Warriors General Manager Bob Myers knows the work required to get to the top. He also knows that it’s even harder to stay there. It’s why he’s already preparing for the offseason even though the blue and yellow just capped their 2017-2018 campaign with their third championship in four years. He understands that everybody else will be retooling rosters with an eye to defeating them, and he figures that continuity is key to holding the opposition at bay.
Myers is right, of course. The Warriors have latched on to a winning formula, one that no other quarter — with the possible exception of the Rockets — can trump in the immediate term. And, needless to say, he’d like to extend their reign for as long as he can. Which accounts for his public pronouncement on the Number One task he has to fulfill, and pronto: get two-time Finals Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant to sign on the dotted line. Parenthetically, he cannot but be pleased that the nine-time All-Star has already expressed a preference to keep the status quo.
It bears noting that Myers is appealing to Durant’s sensitive side in telling all and sundry that the latter has “earned the right to sign whatever deal he wants. I just want him to sign the deal.” It’s an extraordinary concession that both recognizes the extent of the insecurity of the National Basketball Association’s best player not named LeBron James and highlights the Warriors’ appreciation for the latter’s contributions on and off the court.
For Myers, the development is a no-brainer. Never mind that breaking the bank for Durant will push the Warriors deep into luxury-tax territory and likely make them the first franchise ever to have a $400-million payroll. The investment is all upside, in no small measure because it hinges on the output of a relatively low-maintenance megastar who has no qualms playing within a proven system. And, as an aside, it’s the need for the system to keep thriving that Steve Kerr, its engineer, will also be getting a multi-year contract extension.
There will be financial hurdles in the horizon, what with stalwarts Klay Thompson and Draymond Green hitting free agency next year and in 2020, respectively. As Myers noted, however, those are problems for another day. In the meantime, he’s bent on getting Durant to understand that “we want him for as long as he wants to be here. He’s earned that.”
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
