© Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
While it was initially reported that Kevin Durant would join the Brooklyn Nets along with Kyrie Irving and both would sign max contracts, that appears to have shifted in order to allow the Nets to sign DeAndre Jordan. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, both Durant and Irving will take below the max in order for Jordan to sign.
According to Wojnarowski, Jordan will sign a four-year, $40 million deal.
Free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are taking less than the max to allow DeAndre Jordan to get the $10M annual salary with Brooklyn, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
Durant could have taken a full, four-year $164 million offer from the Nets, or a five-year, $221 million offer from the Warriors, as was reported by The New York Times’ Marc Stein. Irving was offered a four-year $141 million deal. Of course, Durant took less than the maximum each of his three years with the Warriors, but was not expected to do so, especially after tearing his Achilles.
It’s not clear by exactly how much both Durant and Irving will take off the top, but with a projected $9.3 million a year starting salary for Jordan by Spotrac.com with Durant and Irving projected at max numbers, it appears that both shaved about $350,000 a year, or a cumulative $700,000 a year off their salaries, in what works to effectively be a yearly bonus payment to Jordan.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Brooklyn can add additional incentives to their contracts:
Brooklyn can add $5.7M (KD) and $4.9M (Kyrie) of unlikely but possible bonuses (reaching round 2 and 45 wins) in each contract. How Brooklyn times each contract would allow DeAndre Jordan to sign for a $10M per year contract. BKN would not have to make any trades to the roster. https://t.co/Z01aSmjjMh
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 1, 2019