Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan will sign with the Nets.
But Durant and Irving won’t get max contracts – just so Jordan can get a lucrative deal.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
DeAndre Jordan has agreed to four-year, $40M deal with the Nets, Excel Sports agent Jeff Schwartz tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
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
Brooklyn added two stars. That’s what matters most.
But this is a ridiculous overpay for Jordan. He turns 31 next month and has already shown signs of decline. Maybe he’ll play more energetically with his new star teammates. But mere motivation isn’t enough to create assurances someone his age will live up to this contract.
Durant and Jordan are friends, and that’s what seemed to drive this arrangement. It reminds me of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh taking discounts their first season with the Heat so Miami could sign Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller.
That Durant and Irving are footing the short-term cost of Jordan’s contract is a boon to the Nets. There are ways to structure Durant’s and Irving’s contracts with incentives to get them close to their max salaries. But they are not getting guaranteed maxes.
Brooklyn will have to deal with Jordan’s contract over the long run. It will likely make it more difficult to build a supporting cast around Durant and Irving.
But that’s a perfectly acceptable burden considering the upside of getting Durant and Irving.
