Kevin Durant’s path to the top of the NBA’s career earnings list runs straight through Brooklyn.
The 16-time All-Star has cleared $591 million in total salary, putting him alone at the top of the league’s all-time money chart. Two massive contract extensions from the Nets did the heavy lifting, and both were worth more than $150 million.
Brooklyn first brought Durant in during the 2019 offseason on a four-year, $164.2 million sign-and-trade deal with the Golden State Warriors. That contract averaged $41 million per season and came after Durant said he wanted a new environment, even with back-to-back championships and Finals MVPs in three seasons with Golden State.
His first season in Brooklyn never got off the ground. Durant tore his right Achilles heel in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors and missed the entire year, but the Nets still bet on him and signed him anyway despite the injury.
When he returned in 2020-21, Durant looked different. He became a more measured scorer, leaning on the hesitation pull-up three and the one-dribble mid-range shot that turned into his go-to answers. At 6-foot-11, his high release point made those looks nearly impossible to challenge.
Over three seasons in Brooklyn, he averaged 28.8 points.
The Nets also paired him with Kyrie Irving and James Harden, giving Durant one of the most dangerous offensive trios in the league. Their games fit together cleanly, and Durant said it was the best team he played on, though injuries kept the group from ever reaching its full ceiling.
Then came the second Brooklyn payday. In 2022, Durant signed a four-year, $194.2 million maximum extension that averaged $48.5 million and pushed his career earnings to $358.4 million. That figure accounted for 60% of everything he has made in the league.
Durant has been traded twice since those huge extensions, first to the Phoenix Suns at the 2023 trade deadline and then to the Houston Rockets in the 2025 offseason.
For now, he sits alone at the top, though the number will not stay untouched forever as contracts keep climbing. Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a four-year, $285 million supermax extension last July, averaging $71.25 million per year.
Brooklyn may not have become a title factory, but it did help write a major chapter in NBA financial history. The Nets landed a superstar and helped make Durant the highest-paid player in league history through the 2028-29 season.
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Egor Demin May Be Forcing A Bigger Nets Conversation
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What makes Demin interesting now is less about what he has already done and more about how quickly the conversation could grow if the efficiency catches up to the skill. After averaging 21.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists in summer league, he has put himself in position to turn promise into something sturdier, and if that shooting gains another level, Brooklyn may have a much bigger decision on its hands than it expected. [Read more 🡒]