Rockets Legend Kevin Durant Agrees 2 Year/$90 Million Extension & Player Option In 2027-2028

I believe (could be wrong) that it also counts this current season as his deal now has 3 years on it technically? I don’t THINK the rockets could have given Durant a 3 year extension legally.

 

Imagine not making the trade for KD and keeping JG and DB then losing Fred for the entire season. YUCK!

 

This is true, but you know the odds are a lot higher of a serious injury when you're 38 than when you're 28. And a serious injury usually means end of career at that age too. Also a lot greater odds of a collection of nagging injuries robbing performance and ability to stay on the court.

It's all a tradeoff. I'm glad we're not locked into anything super long term that will prevent holding onto our young core. My only real concern here is if something happens to him like what just happened to FVV (knock on wood, hope not) and that's just it for his career as a highly productive player, but we still have to pay him for two extra seasons. And that concern for me would be opportunity cost of spending that money on other players who might have helped us.

But, that may not happen, you never know. There have been stars who largely stayed healthy and productive in the twilight of their careers. We'll just have to cross our fingers KD will be one of them.

 

You may be right since it's an extension.

He still has a third year player option so it may not matter, as a player that age is likely taking the player option.

Just glad it wasn't 60 million each year which I'm reading he was eligible for, so that helps a bit.

 

I was hoping for 2yrs/$80M. But $90M seems fair. At 27% of the salary cap, he's still being paid like a superstar and all-time great, which he is, while accounting for the inevitable decline in production that will come with age. There are a lot of stars getting paid in 2026-2027 who will never at any point in their careers be as good as a 37yo KD.

 

I think a 4/80 for Tari is a fair deal .... and I hope you are right, that they get it done.

But I have to wonder if the DFS signing was the writing on the wall in regard to Tari ... or if it was just insurance just in case they can't get a deal done.

That signing never really made sense to me, not that he isn't a very productive player but that it was at the deepest position on the team and they ignored the guard spot that was terribly thin before the FVV injury.

 

Never like to see player option contracts. At least it's fairly short term. Hope it works out!

 

This is a good sign. Tilman has given the team to Ime and the organization is now very player friendly. All of y'all were wrong.

 

We’ve got great cap flexibility now. if Tari signs for around $20 million or a bit less, and we give Amen the rookie max, we’ll still be under the second apron. We also have no issue paying Amen more if he makes an All-NBA team this season. Thanks KD.

 

Wow, I stay away from CF and KD signs for $45m/yr! I thought best case was $50m, but Stone keeps working his magic.

Very healthy sign for our team. I’m so excited for this team/season!!

 

I bet Amen takes some amount less than a max. Based on what Sengun and Jabari got which was less than what another team would offered.

The precedent has been set. Eventually Thunder will have account for the contracts they have given out and their depth will be hindered.

 

Great post. I was hoping to find all this information on the board after I learned about the KD extension. You literally summarized everything I wanted to know in a single post.

I think the one additional variable is which guard we trade for after December 15th. We can't really just have two guards available for the rest of the season during a championship run. We'll have to swap a forward or a wing (or perhaps a center) for another guy who can reliably dribble and hit 3-pointers. It might just be a competent backup but our roster is currently way out of balance.

The best news in all of this is that we can almost certainly retain Tari for the future. He's an important part of this and I would have rather retained Tari than KD if we had to choose between them. Now we can choose both of them.

As to next season, I think we'll have a top-2 roster in the NBA. FVV will make an outstanding backup point guard.

After that, FVV's contract expires and KD has to make a choice. If he opts out then we should have plenty of additional money to play with in the summer of 2027. No one in the NBA outside of OKC and San Antonio has a future as bright as the Rockets right now.

 

We really gave up very little for KD. Jalen Green was on a negative deal. The 10th pick in the draft was the cost of dumping Jalen's bad contract. Dillon Brooks is a good player on a reasonable deal but was needed for salary matching. We obtained Kevin Durant for free because he wanted to be here. Rafael Stone is really good at his job.

 

In the preseason, he still looked great. Seems like he can still give at least 20+ pts average, can win games in the clutch. What else could you possibly want, or what could the Rockets perhaps get that could be better than KD?

 

Jimmy Butler on the other hand wouldn't sign anything unless he got the full 120 million for 2 years. Then he averaged 20 points and shot .450% from the field against the Timberwolves. 60 million per year for the same averages as Jalen Green.

 

I agree, which is why I was beating the drum to acquire him over the much higher cost it would have taken to get someone like Devin Booker.

I’m happy with the Durant trade, and this extension.

 

Kevin Durant Makes The Houston Rockets UNGUARDABLE!! - YouTube

 

Yeah, I saw this too. These guys don't know much about the Rockets.

 

We had FVV, Amen and Reed how is that thin? Getting a wing was more important since Tari had a chance he will skip B2B.