Kevin Durant shocked the basketball world when he announced that he will be joining the Golden State Warriors next season. His decision drew heavy criticism but those are unlikely to matter at this point.
Durant made public his decision through a post he put up over at The Players’ Tribune. But even before that came out, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager already knew about the 27-year-old’s decision.
Presti reveals that he had a conversation with Durant and his business manager. Hard as the scenario may be for him, Presti bares that all went well.
Durant spent nine good years with the Thunder but Presti was aware of the new direction that Durant wanted to go. The decision allowed him to pursue an opportunity for a different challenge and step outside of his comfort zone according to a report from ESPN.
With Durant gone, Presti and the Thunder now shift their focus on the remaining star on the club, Russell Westbrook. Initial word came out that Westbrook was not around when the Thunder met with Durant but Presti shed more light on the issue.
It turns out that Westbrook had a separate meeting with Durant along with another long-time Thunder player in Nick Collison. According to Presti, that meeting was more important since it allowed the three to talk openly and candidly.
With Durant out, the Thunder have $20 million in cap space to use. Presti claims that they had a contingency plan set in the event Durant exited and all of that will go down after a few days. The Thunder will likely skim through the available talent and weigh their options as they try to build up the team for next season without the scoring forward.
Curiously, the Thunder will find themselves in a similar predicament next year with Westbrook. The scoring guard is set to earn $17.8 million this season though the Thunder can renegotiate a pact to add more years to the deal in another report from ESPN.
But with another round of salary cap spikes for next season, Westbrook will likely hold off talks since he stands to earn more next season. If that should be the case, any renegotiation with Westbrook for the coming season is unlikely to prosper and such will put the Thunder in a pretty tough spot.
Sam Presti touches on the Kevin Durant departure in the video below.