Kevin Durant Reminds Steve Kerr of Tim Duncan for Paycut

Kevin Durant accepted a paycut of nearly $10 million to re-sign with Golden State this summer, and his sacrifice reminds Warriors head coach Steve Kerr of former Spurs teammate Tim Duncan.

Durant re-upped with the NBA champs on a two-year, $53 million deal, and was reportedly willing to accept even less money if it helped the Dubs sign more free agents.

Kerr called it a “remarkable gesture.”

Per the Mercury News:

The decision by Kevin to take the huge paycut of nearly $9.5 million. Sounded like that surprised Bob (Myers). How surprised were you and what were your thoughts on it?

 

Kerr:: “I knew he was going to give up enough money to allow us to keep Andre [Iguodala] and Shaun [Livingston]. I didn’t know he was going to go beyond that. A remarkable gesture. I told him it reminded me a little bit of Tim Duncan and his time with the Spurs. He made max money and then at key times in his career he took a little less so they could add a player here and there. The way the league works, the way the CBA works, it really kind of is up to the star player at key times to take a little haircut here and there. Whether that’s fair or not, I don’t know. But I do know that Tim knew it was dramatically helping his own career and KD understands the same thing. In the end, he’s going to make a fortune in his career. Already has and he hopefully is going to win more titles and that’s what he cares about.”