Kevin Durant signed a third one-and-one deal with the Golden State Warriors this summer, and while he's proven to love his new team and the success he's enjoyed with it, owner Joe Lacob knows he will be a No. 1 priority once next summer comes around. Lacob was asked if he would have to re-recruit his superstar once again in the offseason of 2019, and as usual, the championship maven didn't mince words.
“Of course we do,” Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic in a recent podcast. “He deserves to be able to go and be happy wherever he wants to be. I hope it's here. And I hope he feels the same that way I do, and we do, about him when it comes time next summer. But you never can predict these things.”
“We just will do our job and he'll do his job, and we'll see what happens next summer. And let the chips fall where they may.”
For the first time, Lacob's tone of extreme confidence was rather subdued, given the fragile nature of what could come at the end of the season, with many big-time free agents on the market and many teams already saving salary cap space to make moves.
Lacob looked back in retrospect to the two-year, $61.5 million deal Kevin Durant signed earlier this summer, but noted it was his player's choice to make as a free agent.
“Sure. I would have liked to have had him — we would have liked to have had him — been here longer; sign a long-term deal,” Lacob said “But on the other hand, we're happy to have him. And you know, by him signing a one-year deal, it did save us a little bit of money, actually.”
“So it allows us to do some other things. Like maybe we wouldn't have DeMarcus Cousins as an example. KD's been great. He's my hero, man. He has been a really good partner for us. He's taken a little bit of a discount the last few years to allow us to do a few extra things. And I'm never gonna forget that.”
Lacob is watching his words closely, especially after general manager Bob Myers nearly put his foot in his mouth during the most recent championship parade, an event that sparked the flames of a potential departure for the two-time Finals MVP.
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