Kevin Durant To Restructure Warriors Deal, Turn Down Player Option: Report

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant is set to decline his player option for the 2018/2019 season and become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

According to ESPN's Chris Haynes, the 29-year-old will be turning down a salary of $26.2 million so that he can restructure his deal with the Bay Area side as he previously did last year.

Durant infamously joined the Warriors from Western Conference rivals Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2016 as he helped Stephen Curry and company perform a clean sweep into the finals of the NBA playoffs last year with a 12-0 postseason record.

The 29-year-old then took center stage against the Cleveland Cavaliers whom the Warriors extracted revenge upon from the previous year, winning the series 4-1 to secure a second NBA championship in three seasons.

Durant was notably the top scorer in all five games as he averaged 35.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists and was named the NBA Finals most valuable player (MVP) afterward.

After winning his first championship, Durant turned down a $27.7 million player option to become an unrestricted free agent with the intention of re-signing with the Warriors for $10 million less. He did so to allow the Warriors to retain the likes of forward Andre Iguodala and backup point guard Shaun Livingston while allowing the franchise to add free agents to the roster.

"His gesture of taking less gave us the ability to be very aggressive in pursuing Shaun and Andre," Warriors general manager Bob Myers said in July. "I can pretty much unequivocally say, without it, we're not looking at the team we have right now."

"What Kevin did shows who he is, shows what he's about and I think it's clear that that's winning. Without him doing that it would have been a different roster, and clearly to me, a roster that wasn't as good as the one we have right now," he said.

The Washington D.C. native intends to re-sign with the Warriors this time around as well, though the ESPN report states it is "yet be decided what contractual route Durant will take," adding that there are no real incentives for a pay cut this time, especially for a player of his caliber.

The three options he could take according to ESPN Front Office Insider Bobby Marks are a two-year deal with a 2019-2020 player option, a four-year max contract valued at around $158 million or a three-year deal with a player option after the second season.

"It made sense to do the one-year deal," Durant told The Atlantic last month. "I'm sure here soon I'll want to sign a long-term deal just to feel stable. But I'm enjoying every moment of it, so I'm not trying to look too far down the line."

Durant finished the regular season with the Warriors on Tuesday night after a heavy 119-79 loss to the Utah Jazz. He ends the campaign with an average of 26.4 points, 5.4 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game.