Yahoo! Sports this morning reported that at least three major clubs – Euroleaguers Maccabi Tel Aviv, EuroCup side Valencia Basket and, interestingly enough, BBC Bayreuth of Germany – have put forth offers for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant to play in Europe while the NBA player lockout continues.
And according to Spain-based basketball website TuBasket.com, this marks the second time Valencia club officials have put forth an offer to Durant. “Weeks ago” the club reportedly began the bargaining process with the Thunderer, first putting forth an offer of €200,000 (about $275,000) per month, which was subsequently upped to €475,000 ($650,000). Durant’s asking price was €675,000 ($928,000).
Tu Basket notes that Nike was to be involved in the deal, allowing the sports footwear giant to provide marketing campaigns (let’s say “media blitz”) for Durant’s appearances in ACB games; BiE assumes that such an arrangement will be involved in the next pitch to the Nike pitchman.
Durant told Yahoo! Sports from Dallas last night local time that he was “right on the fence with playing overseas and I’m about to jump over,” while simultaneously opining that the latest offer from NBA owners is “not a good one. It’s not the one that we want. …If it’s not a good deal, I don’t see why we should take it, especially this late.”
A decision from Durant could come as early as next week; the latest round of talks between NBA owners and players is scheduled for Monday.
