Report: Kevin Durant's 4-Year, $164M Nets Contract Includes Player Option

The four-year, $164 million contract superstar forward Kevin Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets reportedly features a player option in the final season.

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Durant can opt out in 2022 and be eligible for unrestricted free agency again.

Durant is in the early stages of his recovery from a ruptured Achilles suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors.

Nets general manager Sean Marks won't rule out the possibility that the 10-time All-Star returns during the 2019-20 season.

"He will be evaluated with the performance team and so forth," Marks told reporters Tuesday. "A timeline will be given in due time, but as of now, we're certainly not going to comment on when or if and make any sort of hypotheticals. It's too early."

The signings of Durant, point guard Kyrie Irving and center DeAndre Jordan have significantly raised the Nets' hopes, but moving into title contention depends entirely on KD's health.

If he misses the entirety of next season, then the contract becomes more of a two-year deal with a player option for the third.

Marks admitted the serious nature of the injury forced the front office to have some conversations about whether to make a lucrative offer.

"For it to happen in that moment, at that time, irrespective of free agency, obviously I'd be lying if I said, 'oh, it didn't bother us at all,' or 'we weren't at all taken,'" he told reporters. "Then we had to dig in and say, 'OK, what does that look like? How does that work with our franchise? How does that fit with the dynamic?'"

The Nets ultimately decided to go all-in with Durant and Irving, and they'll hope their investment in Durant pays off sooner than later.