Kevin Durant and the 54 Million Dollar Counteroffer
You don’t have to follow basketball to know Kevin Durant was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder. You just have to be a recruiter.
Every experienced recruiter knows the pain of Sam Priesti, OKC’s general manager, a man who has known and managed Durant for nearly a decade. On June 30th, Marc Stein reported that Durant had a 5 hour meeting with Priesti and the OKC management team. It was “very productive”, and “barring an unbelievable pitch” by some other team, Durant was going to stay put. After all, the pundits mused in the following days, “he has a score to settle with the Warriors!”, “the work is not done”, “he came SO close”, “he considers Westbrook and Coach Donavan to be family” and the lamest theory of all…”his picture dwarfs the front of the arena where the Thunder play!”
And then the words that would make any recruiter’s heart go cold, and then look frantically for a back-up candidate…”KD is 90% sure he is staying in OKC.”
I knew then. Bye-bye. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t know if it would be the Celtics, who had David Ortiz and Tom Brady make personal pitches for Beantown’s charm, or if his trip to meet with Doc Rivers and the Clippers crew, a trip KD said “blew him away” would send him to LA, a town he considers home, or if the phone call from the venerable Jerry West, literally the NBA’s insignia, on behalf of the Warriors, would tip the scales in NoCal’s direction. But I knew he was gone.
Why? Because I have been burned. 100% of the time when a candidate has said to me they are “90% sure they are taking the job” they in fact turn down that job. When a candidate tells me they are accepting my job, but are going to go on an interview with another company “just to hear them out”, or “just to show respect” or “because I already committed” or “they already bought the plane ticket” they in fact NEVER accept my job.
If they did want my job, you know what they would do? The same thing KD would have done if he wanted to stay in OKC, they sign the offer letter, cancel the other meetings and let the other suitors know they are off the market and don’t want to waste anyone’s time or mislead anyone.
Every recruiter has gotten the call that Priesti got from KD (to Durant’s credit, he called him before going public)…”gee, it turned out they made an amazing offer, and I’m going to accept their offer and turn yours down, despite everything I said. I hope you understand. I have to do what is right for me and my family”
KD’s version was, “…this offers me the greatest potential for personal growth…”
Having been through this scores of times, what I would like to say to KD, (after wishing him well, he played hard for OKC, gave a lot back to the community, and simply exercised the option he had previously negotiated), what I have often said to candidates is…”this may be the best decision for you, and of course you have to do what is right for you and your family, but spare me the rant about “personal growth”, you know what offered the greatest potential for personal growth? Telling OKC you were moving on from the start, and saving them both the time suck of your 5 hour meeting and the enervating pain that comes when hopes are dashed.”Of course, in the real world, as a recruiter, I would never say that to KD. Instead, I’d say, “hey, you do you, my friend. However, while I have you on the phone, can you hook me up with Russel Westbrook? He might be looking to make a move….”