Extension Rumors: Durant, Kuminga, Moody, Sengun, Green, Gordon

Suns forward Kevin Durant will not sign a contract extension before the start of the regular season, Shams Charania said during an appearance on Friday's episode of NBA Today on ESPN (YouTube link).

As we outlined on Thursday, Durant — who has two years left on his current maximum salary contract — is eligible to sign a one-year extension worth up to $59.5 million through Oct. 21. If he does not sign this contract extension by Monday, his next contract extension opportunity will come in the 2025 offseason.

Durant has downplayed the likelihood of a deal getting done this fall, but has “expressed publicly and privately how much he loves Phoenix,” according to Charania. could extend his current contract for two new years for a total of $123.8 million.

The over-38 rule prohibits Durant from signing a contract that keeps him under contract for a total of four or more years in the future.

Here are some other recent updates on players eligible for contract extensions:

• The warrior And Jonathan Kuminga remain “far apart” in their extension negotiations, according to Charania, who said in the same NBA Today segment that there is a feeling that Kuminga could start the season without a new contract, putting him on the path to a limited one free agency in 2025 brings. Charania adds that the Warriors forward is comfortable with the idea of ​​betting on himself in 2024-25 and trying to get a maximum salary contract – or something similar – next summer. Moses Moody According to Charania, signing a contract extension with Golden State before Monday's deadline appears to be “much more likely” than Kuminga.
• The Rockets I had “productive” conversations with both of them Alperen Sengun And Jalen Green and have made extension offers that Charania said would provide them with long-term financial security. However, Charania notes that these offers are below the maximum value, so Sengun and Green will have to decide whether they are willing to accept these offers or whether they want to push for higher payouts by opting for restricted free agency.
• The Nuggets and forward Aaron Gordon According to Charania, they are in “active discussions” about an extension. Gordon is eligible to sign a four-year contract starting in 2025-26 for up to $143.3 million, although ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on the Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link) that Denver hopes to sign him to that to accept something less than that. “They didn’t hand over this (maximum) offer” Said Windhorst (hat tip to RealGM). “Otherwise he would have signed it. From what I understand, they are negotiating and hoping to get him at a lower price than his offer, unquote, max would be.”
• In an inside story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks examines some of this year's top extension candidates and shares the offers he has on the table for several of them, including $148 million Jalen Johnson$128 million for Josh Giddeyand a whopping $165 million for it Jalen suggests (all five-year contracts).