Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images After winning back-to-back NBA Finals MVP awards, the Golden State Warriors appear ready to give Kevin Durant a blank check to remain with the team. "Whatever he wants," Warriors general manager Bob Myers said of Durant's contract Monday, per Mark Medina of the Mercury News. "There's no negotiation." The 29-year-old has a player option worth about $26 million for next season. Chris Haynes of ESPN reported in April that Durant would opt out of his current deal, becoming an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Before fans start panicking, however, he has stated his intention to remain with his current squad. "I'm planning on staying with the Warriors," the forward told Rachel Nichols of ESPN. The only question appears to be how much it will cost to sign him. When he first joined the team in 2016, Durant signed a two-year deal that featured a player option in the second year. He declined the option and agreed to a similar deal in 2017, but he took $10 million less than his two-year max by signing for $51.3 million. This sacrifice allowed the team to ink Stephen Curry to a bigger deal while also re-signing Andre Iguodala and others. Video Play Button Videos you might like It appears Durant won't have to take a discount this year with Myers willing to open the checkbook. According to Spotrac, the Warriors are already more than $2 million over the cap with just eight players signed, not including Durant. Assuming he returns to the roster at his value, the team should expect a high luxury-tax bill.<doc-sep>Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers knows a good thing when he sees it. He has a good thing. Myers told reporters that negotiations won’t be an issue from the team’s standpoint when it comes to anticipated contract talks this summer with back-to-back reigning NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant. . @warriors GM Bob Myers ready to sign @KDTrey5 to a new contract this summer. "Whatever he wants. Sometimes you don't negotiate. I'd love to have him for 10 years." pic.twitter.com/pkt1BT7IUX — KPIX 5 (@KPIXtv) June 11, 2018 “Whatever he wants, Meyers said. “Sometimes you don’t negotiate. I’d love to have him for 10 years. Kevin Durant, look what he did for us last year. He did us a great service. He’s earned the right to sign whatever deal he wants. I just want him to sign a deal. “But I want him to be happy and want him to know that we want him as long as he wants to be here. He’s earned that, to kind of lay out the terms.” Durant expected to opt out, seek max deal Durant is expected to opt out of his current deal with the Warriors and is eligible to sign for up to four years and $160 million. He signed a “one-plus-one” deal last summer which provided an option on the upcoming season and paid him $25 million last season. Had he signed a long-term max deal, he would have made $34.5 million last year, amounting to a $9.5 million discount. Durant was obviously worth the max on the open market and chose to take the discount so the Warriors could keep their core intact under the NBA’s salary cap and avoid an extensive NBA tax burden. He will not take a discount this time around, and Myers rightfully is just fine with that. Durant told USA Today last week that he anticipates staying with Golden State, so it sounds like the league will have to contend with the core of these juggernaut Warriors for at least another season. More from Yahoo Sports: • Braves star robbed of more than $100K while pitching • Former Patriots lineman Jones dies at 39 • Clemens’ homer-mashing kid is taunting everyone • Jeff Passan: Is one genius’ dramatic proposal the way to fix MLB?<doc-sep>
Kevin Durant said last week that he intends to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors this summer. General manager Bob Myers is prepared to make the back-to-back NBA Finals MVP as rich as he wants. Durant can sign with Golden State for up to four years and nearly $160 million after reportedly opting out of the final year of his current contract. Myers told reporters Monday that Durant can sign any deal he wants. "Sometimes you don't negotiate," Meyers said. "I'd love to have him for 10 years. Kevin Durant, look what he did for us last year, he did us a great service, so he’s earned the right to sign whatever deal he wants. "I just want him to sign a deal. But I want him to be happy and want him to know that we want him as long as he wants to be here. He's earned that, to kind of lay out the terms." Durant just finished the first year of the discounted two-year, $51.25 million contract he signed last summer, a deal that included a player option for the upcoming 2018-19 season. Durant declined that option in April, making him an unrestricted free agent. During the NBA Finals last week, Durant told USA TODAY Sports that he had no plans to leave the Bay Area, even if the Warriors hadn't won the championship. "Everything, the money and stuff ... the contract got to (be) worked out, but I plan on being here," said Durant. "I said that earlier this year. I didn’t plan on anything else, but this is the NBA, and anything can happen. And I know that anything can happen, (because) I’ve been a part of this league for so long now." MORE NBA