Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant Reportedly Took Discounts to Help Nets Sign DeAndre Jordan
By Brendan Azoff
For the Brooklyn Nets, the signing of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant was not the only moves that the organization made Sunday, as they also brought in center DeAndre Jordan in on a four-year $40 million contract.
DeAndre Jordan has agreed to four-year, $40M deal with the Nets, Excel Sports agent Jeff Schwartz tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
If KD and Kyrie signed for max contracts, this third move would have been impossible, but apparently both stars took deals that were less than max in order to get Jordan a $10 million contract per year to play along side them.
KD and Kyrie are taking less than the max to allow DeAndre Jordan to get the $10M annual salary with the Nets, per @wojespn & @ramonashelburne. https://t.co/tBswE2fsll
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 1, 2019
The allure of forming the next big three was too appealing for these stars to pass up, as both KD and Kyrie put the team first and their bank accounts second in order to make it happen. This is unusual in basketball, as players usually target the biggest payday or sign a big contract and have it restructured to make cap space.
Yet in Brooklyn's scenario, everything that could have went right did, and now the Nets have a team that features three premier players as well as numerous role players who proved last year that they were more than capable of getting the job done.