Nets To Lock Up Durant With Four-year $198 Mln Extension

Los Angeles, Aug 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Aug, 2021 ) :Two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant is poised to sign a four-year, $198 million contract extension with the Brooklyn Nets, his manager said on Friday.

Rich Kleiman said the Nets' star would decline a player option for the 2022-23 season, while adding four more years to his contract, which would take him through the 2025-26 season.

The 11-time NBA All-Star is at the Tokyo Olympics, leading the US national team into the gold-medal game against France.

The 33-year-old forward won two NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

Durant left Golden State after the 2018-19 season and sat out all of the 2019-20 campaign with a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto.

He eventually joined the Nets and played alongside fellow All-Stars James Harden and Kyrie Irving this past season, leading Brooklyn to the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Nets lost the best-of-seven series 4-3 despite Durant scoring 48 points in game seven.

While missing parts of the regular season with a string of injuries, Durant averaged 26.9 points and 7.1 rebounds in 35 games.

The extension, which he becomes eligible for after Saturday, is expected to vault Durant past $500 million in NBA career earnings.

Also in NBA contract news, Kawhi Leonard is expected to re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, though the details are still being finalized, Yahoo sports reported.

Leonard initially declined his player option, worth $36 million, for next season, but was widely expected to try to negotiate a new deal to remain with the Clippers.

Los Angeles is home for the two-time NBA Finals MVP (2014, 2019) who grew up just east of the city in Riverside.