By Daniel Lins | City of Knowles, Carpenter County

$31.5 million. That’s what Kevin Durant will be missing out on if he declines his player option next year.

With fear of a torn Achilles, any team trying to sign the former-MVP will have to accept the fact that KD may have to sit out the first year of his contract.

According to a 2013 research paper published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, 7 of the 18 NBA players who sustained major Achilles injuries between 1988 and 2011 did not come back to the league.

Those who did return missed an average of 55.9 games the rest of their career, with only 8 of the 11 playing a second season.

Despite such unfavorable odds, many of the 30 NBA teams are still willing to risk the fact that KD may not step on the court again.

“The Warriors need to realize Kevin Durant does not make up the team,” Davion Cook, a citizen from the City of Hoard in Carpenter County, said. “They need to know how to play as a unit, and how to play effectively without Kevin Durant.”

In Ripon, citizens have mixed feelings about where KD will head for next year.

“I feel like KD will either end up with the Los Angeles Clippers or the New York Knicks,” Theo Rauch, a citizen from the City of Goodland in Sawyer County, said. “Wherever he ends up, it’ll be one heck of a season to watch.”