Shaun Livingston thought his days with the Warriors were over after their 2016-17 championship. After all, it's impossible for the team to keep their core and bench unit intact with the price tag of Kevin Durant.
However, Durant surprisingly took a pay cut to return to the Warriors, foregoing as much as $7 million by signing a two-year, $53 million deal.
This selfless act helped Golden State re-sign majority of their championship-winning team, including Livingston who didn't hold back in showing his appreciation to Durant, per Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area.
'Without him making that sacrifice, this probably doesn't happen.' @ShaunLivingston, returning to #Warriors after @KDTrey5 took a discount.
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) September 22, 2017
The 32-year-old guard also admitted he called the reigning NBA Finals MVP to thank him personally for the sacrifice he made.
Livingston actually called KD to express appreciation. https://t.co/ZbJU9aMMV8
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) September 22, 2017
It was previously reported that Durant was even willing to take less money to help the Warriors, and the team's general Bob Myers praised him for such team-first mentality.
If Kevin Durant demanded the max from the Warriors, which the team seemed willing to give, Livingston, along with Andre Iguodala, would have been out of Oracle Arena. Stephen Curry wouldn't be able to easily sign his five-year, $201 million deal as well.
Despite Durant's unusual summer, which saw him take a lot of heat for his Twitter activities, what he did for the Warriors is certainly worthy of praise.
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