Kevin Durant intends to sign two-year maximum deal to remain with Warriors

Sam Amick | USA TODAY

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Kevin Durant intends to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors on a two-year maximum deal, a person with knowledge of Durant's intentions confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke under the condition of anonymity because the contract can’t officially be signed until the NBA’s moratorium period lifts on July 6. Verbal agreements, however, can be reached at the start of free agency at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Durant will have a player option in the second year of the deal, according to the person.

While Durant had said many times that he planned to re-sign, the length of the contract is significant, as it puts the Warriors in prime position to bolster their bench this summer due to the luxury tax savings.

Durant gave back nearly $10 million last summer, which helped the Warriors hold on to Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. With this expected one-plus-one deal, Durant’s salary for next season will be $30 million (as opposed to the $35.3 million it would have been on a four-year deal).

That $5.3 million makes a massive difference when it comes to overall cost. The Warriors are projected to be paying an extra $3.25-per-dollar tax by the time they’re making decisions about the supporting cast. As such, a player who was given their entire taxpayer mid-level exception of $5.3 million would actually cost $22.5 million. A minimum salary addition of $2.3 million, by comparison, would cost approximately $7.1 million (the NBA only taxes approximately $1.5 million on minimum deals).

All of this matters, of course, because there are some compelling candidates on the Warriors’ radar. But after a season in which players like Nick Young and Omri Casspi didn’t pay off as they’d hoped, it remains to be seen if owner Joe Lacob and his group are willing to pay big for periphery pieces.

Durant told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month that he planned on re-signing, just after the Warriors survived a seven-game Western Conference finals against Houston and before they swept Cleveland for the title.

"I feel as though (I am returning)," he said. "Everything, the money and stuff that’s got to, the contract got to (be) worked out, but I plan on being here. I said that earlier this year. I didn’t plan on anything else, but this is the NBA, and anything can happen. And I know that anything can happen, (because) I’ve been a part of this league for so long now."

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