Kyrie And KD Will Reportedly Take Under The Max So DeAndre Jordan Can Get $10 Million A Year

When the Brooklyn Net managed to land Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency (which was reported as done an hour before the moratorium period began), DeAndre Jordan — a friend of both — was also reported as making his way to Brooklyn with them.

There was some confusion as to how the Nets would do that financially, especially after numbers were reported on Irving and Durant getting $164 and $142 million respectively, and Garrett Temple being signed in to the room exception. Most thought, at that point, Jordan would join the Nets on a minimum deal, although that would’ve been a tremendous pay cut to play with his friends.

As it turns out, it’s Durant and Irving who will take the necessary pay cuts to get their buddy paid in Brooklyn. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne, the two stars will now except deals for under the max so Jordan can get a four-year, $40 million deal from the Nets.

As Bobby Marks noted, it’s possible the way to get there is to make about $5 million from each of their annual salaries “unlikely bonuses,” which do not count towards the salary cap.

Whatever the case, this is a pretty tremendous show of friendship from Durant and Irving to make that kind of sacrifice, even if it’s possibly recouped, to let Jordan get his money too. Jordan must be one hell of a friend, because few expected that to be the deal he’d get. What now becomes interesting is how they balance minutes with Jarrett Allen, who has been very good and most would consider the better player now than Jordan, but his size and struggles with larger centers has been noted and with Philly getting very big, this could be with an eye towards the 16-game season that is the playoffs.