Will Kawhi Be Able to Take Advantage of the new CBA's "Kevin Durant" Rule?

[BillMc]

Can someone more contract savvy than me confirm this? According to the new CBA superstar players can get a massive 5 year contract if they are free agents ONLY in their 8th or 9th year. Kawhi is in his 6h and has 4 more years on his contract (including this year and including a player option) so, he should be good. According to Brian Windhorst:

To get this type of premium deal you have to have played eight or nine years in the league and been on the All-NBA team this year or in two of the past three years, win the Defensive Player of the Year or have won the MVP in one of the past three years. You also have to re-sign with the team you played for since your rookie contract, although players traded during their rookie contracts still qualify. That's not a lot of players.

He'll be eligible (I think) for a five year 209 million dollar contract or even more. I assume it means he'll have to have been All-NBA three years from now, but hopefully that's not a problem.

Apparently eight or nine years is the key. When Westbrook, for example, is up for his next contract he'll miss out. Windhorst again:

it's a major bummer for OKC. They've gotten pretty unlucky in how the rules have applied to them. To make it worse, they won't even have the new advantages when Westbrook can become a free agent in 2018 because he'll have played 10 years and other teams can offer him the same starting salary. Had the Thunder known this, they might not have signed him to an extension last summer when Durant left. Like I said, it's a major bummer.

http://www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/...-antonio-spurs

Kawhi, then, has a chance to be the wealthiest Spur in team history.

[dabom]

Well deserved kawhi.

[BillMc]

Well deserved kawhi.

Agreed. Hard work and dedication can pay off not only for Kawhi, but generations of his family.

[cjw]

What it also means is the Spurs need to reload with cap space that will be freed up when Gasol and Parker come off the books in the summer of '18.

[spurs10]

Oh I get it, including this year he would be in his 9th year with a player option he could refuse to do this massive deal. How would this ben fit KD who is in the first year of his contract?

[TheGreatYacht]

Hopefully Parker accepts that 10 year MAX offer and doesn't leave us

[Seventyniner]

Oh I get it, including this year he would be in his 9th year with a player option he could refuse to do this massive deal. How would this ben fit KD who is in the first year of his contract?

I think the "Kevin Durant" name on the rule means that if this rule had been in place last summer, Durant could have signed for the super-max with OC even though he only had 9 years experience.

[DMC]

, KL never has to work another day in his life he he quit right now. That big payout won't change his life that much.