Kevin Durant agrees to 2-year extension with Rockets through 2027-28 season
Kevin Durant wants to be in Houston for more than one year. And he left more than $30 million on the bargaining table to make that possible.
Durant has signed a contract extension that could keep the four-time scoring champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist with the Rockets through the 2027-28 season, the team announced Sunday.
It is a two-year extension, the second year at Durant's option, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Rockets did not disclose those details.
ESPN, which first reported the agreement, cited Durant's business partner Rich Kleiman and said the deal could be worth $90 million. If Durant plays both seasons as planned, that $90 million would push his on-court earnings to nearly $600 million — which could be an NBA record, depending on how long LeBron James continues to play.
Durant — a 15-time All-Star, one of only seven players in NBA history with that many selections — was eligible for an extension that could have been worth $122 million. He opted for less, a move that will provide the Rockets plenty of flexibility for other deals going forward.
“Generous guy,” Rockets forward Amen Thompson told reporters in Houston on Sunday.
The new deal had been expected since Durant chose to join the Rockets and they swung a trade for him this past summer. Houston was the Western Conference's No. 2 seed last season after going 52-30, snapping a five-year playoff drought. The Rockets are 93-71 in Ime Udoka's two seasons as coach, after going 59-177 in the three previous seasons.
“I think we all knew when we traded for him and when he came here it wasn’t a short-term thing,” Udoka said. “Good to get to a point where everybody’s happy and hopefully he finishes his career here.”
Durant said at Rockets' media day last month that he expected to sign an extension.
“Just seeing the quick progression of this franchise from where it was right after that James Harden-Chris Paul era, seeing when Ime got here and how he turned it around so fast ... it just felt organic and natural coming into the gym and being a Houston Rocket for the first time,” Durant said.
Durant is eighth all-time on the NBA scoring list. He realistically could climb to No. 5 this season; currently at 30,571 points, he is 848 behind No. 7 Wilt Chamberlain, 989 behind No. 6 Dirk Nowitzki and 1,721 behind No. 5 Michael Jordan.
Durant averaged 26.6 points last season, his 17th in the NBA — not counting one year missed because of injury. For his career, the 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 27.2 points and seven rebounds per game.
Signing with Houston brought Durant back to the state of Texas, where he played his one year of college basketball for the Longhorns and was the college player of the year before going as the No. 2 pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle.
Houston is his fifth franchise, after the SuperSonics (who then became the Oklahoma City Thunder), Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. Durant won his two NBA championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and last year he became both the highest-scoring player in U.S. Olympic basketball history and the first men’s player to be part of four gold-medal basketball teams.
Having an option to play into 2028 also raises the possibility that Durant may consider playing for the U.S. at the Los Angeles Olympics.
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