© Geoff Burke | 2019 Jan 24
The news on Sunday has not stopped from the moment the clock hit 6 p.m. ET and free agency officially began (and it came before that too). At that time, it was made official that Kevin Durant would sign with the Brooklyn Nets on a four-year, $164 million max contract. Later in the day, however, that changed, as both Durant and his signing partner with the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving (four years, $141 million), agreed to reportedly take less than the max in order to allow their third signing partner, DeAndre Jordan, to sign with the Nets for a four years, $40 million.
After all that happened, even more shocking news came through. It was reported earlier in the day that the Warriors were exploring sign-and-trade options with the Nets for Kevin Durant, but according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Warriors agreed a sign-and-trade deal for D’Angelo Russell, Treveon Graham and Shabazz Napier (the other two players were identified by The Athletic’s Shams Charania), and will sign Russell to a four-year, $117 million max contract.
The casualty of all this is veteran wing Andre Iguodala, who will head to the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade, along with a first-round draft pick, in order to clear the necessary cap space for the Warriors to make the deal work.
The Warriors had been planning for this possibility. Iguodala was informed a week ago that he could be moved to another team if Golden State was unable to re-sign Durant, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Andre Iguodala was informed by Warriors early last week that he could be traded to unload salary in event Kevin Durant moved on, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Today’s trade to Memphis wasn’t a shock.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 1, 2019
The trade of Iguodala, 35, marks the end of an era that saw the forward as a key component on three championship teams. Iguodala is owed $17.1 next season and is due to become an unrestricted free agent in 2020. It’s reportedly possible that the Grizzlies could buy out his contract, and make Iguodala an unrestricted free agent.
Here’s how the Warriors roster currently stands after a wild first day of free agency.
Current Warriors roster
Steph Curry
Klay Thompson
D'Angelo Russell
Draymond Green
Alfonzo McKinnie
Jacob Evans
Damian Jones
Jordan Poole
Eric Paschall
Shabazz Napier
Treveon Graham
Alen Smailagic— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) July 1, 2019