Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant isn't a fan of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's suggestion of getting rid of guaranteed contracts. The reigning MVP didn't like the idea of getting rid of guaranteed deals in exchange for getting rid of maximum contracts, perhaps providing a preview of what the biggest fight in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement will be.
Durant made it clear he didn't like the idea of dumping guaranteed contracts as a "trade-off" for dumping the maximum contract restrictions currently in place.
"I don't think that makes sense," Durant said Friday, via ESPN. "Give up guarantees? Nah, I don't think so. Why? Why would we do that? Just because we asked for ... I'm not going to talk about this, man."
Cuban's suggestion about the trade-off followed Durant's remarks earlier in the week, when Durant told the Oklahoman players aren't being paid what they're worth.
"Look at it like this: Kobe Bryant brings in a lot of money to Los Angeles, that downtown area," he said Tuesday. "Clippers are getting up there - Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and those guys are bringing in a lot of money as well. Look at Cleveland, look at Miami when LeBron [James] was there.
"These guys are worth more than what they are making because of the money that they bring to that area. That's a conversation you can always have, but until it's changed, you never know what will happen."
The players made a deal of concessions to end the lockout in 2011. The league's owners were losing money then. Now, after agreeing to a new TV deal that will generate around $2 billion annually, the league is in a different position. Either side - the owners or the players - can opt out of the current CBA in December 2016, which would then put a lockout in effect on July 1.
Because of the NBA's new television deal, most - including superstar LeBron James - believes a lockout in 2017 is inevitable.
"At the end of the day, we will negotiate," James said. "We know it's going to happen at some point, because our deal is ending soon. We would love to do it sooner than later. We don't want it to happen like it happened last time when we went into a lockout."
