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Green and gold day for Durant who follows $272 million new deal with a third Olympic title

Kevin Durant (Photo by Getty Sports)
7th August, 2021
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A third Olympic gold medal and confirmation that he’s about to sign a whopping four-year, $A272 million extension with the Brooklyn Nets this month – it’s been some 24 hours for NBA superstar Kevin Durant.

Durant’s media company Boardroom announced the news of his contract extension on Saturday AEST hours bnefore he led Team USA into the gold medal game in Tokyo.

On Saturday scored 29 points and joined Carmelo Anthony as the only three-time men’s gold medalists in Olympic history and the U.S. held off France 87-82.

Durant sealed it with two free throws with 8.8 seconds left.

Durant, who turns 33 next month, is an 11-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP, winning titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

He left the Warriors following the 2018-19 season, which ended in a loss to the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals. Durant ruptured his Achilles during the series, causing him to sit out all of 2019-20.

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Durant played his first season with the Nets in 2020-21 alongside Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the latter of whom was acquired via trade midseason.

While missing sizeable parts of the regular season with multiple injuries, while also testing positive for COVID-19, Durant played 35 games and averaged 26.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per game.

In the 2021 playoffs, Durant recorded 34.3 points per game and dropped 48 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Though the Nets lost, it marked the highest-scoring individual performance in a Game 7 in NBA history.

According to Boardroom, Durant is declining a player option for the 2022-23 season, while adding four more years through the 2025-26 season.

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The extension will take Durant past $US500 million in career on-court earnings, the website said.

Durant played a massive part in their semi-final win over Australia where he came up against his new teammate at the Nets, Boomers skipper Patty Mills.

© AAP

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