Kevin Durant must not have heard of that old song by ABBA.
The Thunder superstar recently expressed his deep admiration of forward David West for leaving millions of dollars on the table to sign with the San Antonio Spurs last offseason.
“I respect it. Money isn’t everything in this life,” Durant said on Saturday per Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman. “I know we tend to think about taking care of your family, being financially stable. But from the outside looking in, it looks like he said, well, I’ve been blessed to make X amount and I’ll be happy chasing something that’s the grand prize in this league. So I respected him for it. A lot of guys wouldn’t have done it.”
West, of course, declined the $12.6 million player option for the final year of his contract with the Indiana Pacers to sign with the Spurs for the veteran’s minimum salary, worth less than $1.5 million, a move that signaled winning a championship as his No. 1 priority.
For the Thunder, who will be faced with the prospect of Durant’s own free agency come this summer, they are the ones who can actually offer the former NBA MVP the most money as the owner of his Bird Rights. But it was recently revealed that the Spurs are planning a serious run at Durant themselves despite a relative lack of cap space. With these latest comments by the Slim Reaper to go along with all the other subtext, let’s just say that this second-round series between OKC and San Antonio is now even more compelling.
