The Golden State Warriors broke ground on the construction of their new arena on Tuesday, which presented a chance for people to both lament the team’s relocation and ask owner Joe Lacob about the future.
Kevin Durant’s future was among the topics presented, and Lacob made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t envision the 2013-14 MVP going anywhere this summer, per The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears:
Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob says he has "every expectation" that @KDTrey5 will re-sign with the franchise.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 17, 2017
Durant himself put any doubts that he would leave to bed as well, per ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne:
Kevin Durant on re-signing with the Warriors this summer, "It'll be fun playing there" (referring to the arena… https://t.co/wGutRdeQ8g
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 17, 2017
Durant’s comments are more telling, because the arena which he references won’t open until 2019. If he plans to play in it, he also plans to be a member of the Warriors—unless he was referring to visiting the arena once or twice a year as an opponent, in which case he’s the most devious NBA star alive.
There is no reason to think Durant won’t be a member of the Warriors by then, though. His player option for this summer is a formality—a way of him capitalizing on the league’s salary-cap boom. It will be interesting to see if he signs another short-term deal or opts for the longer-term route, but it would take an implosion of epic proportions for him to be repping any other team besides Golden State in 2017-18.
Or 2018-19.
Or, for that matter, 2022-23.
