Yesterday I wrote about the secret agreement that exists between Kevin Durant's party and Durant's agent Aaron Goodwin. Reliable sources tell me that unless Goodwin secures a shoe deal worth $40M or more, Goodwin won't get paid on the deal.

Boy, to say I stirred the pot would be an understatement. ESPN's True Hoop, CNBC, the Sports Business Daily, Slam, Fox Sports and others have linked to my story and weighed in with their own opinions. Some see the validity of the story while others call my story inaccurate. I am not at all surprised that the Goodwin camp is denying this story. What benefit would he have to confirming its true? All that would do is give adidas and Nike leverage with him in the negotiations because both companies would know that he has a minimum deal he needs to cut - $40M.

Like any good journalist, I'm obviously not going to reveal who my sources are on this story, but I can offer you some pretty good evidence as to why the secret deal Goodwin cut with the Durant camp makes a lot of sense:

1.) The numbers being thrown around early in the Durant shoe conversations were between $50M - $60M. Makes sense that Goodwin thought he'd have no problem securing a deal north of $40M for Durant, who many people see as the most marketable player in the recent NBA Draft. Nike and adidas obviously have an interest in Durant so there is definitely a market for Goodwin to secure an "upper echelon" shoe deal for him. In other words, it wasn't like Goodwin had to do a huge sales job with Nike and adidas to get either company to see the value of signing Durant. Because both shoe companies were interested in Durant, Goodwin also probably figured he could try to engage Nike and adidas in a bidding war to drive up Durant's price. Remember, if you only have one suitor, its tough to drive up the price with the one company you are negotiating with.

2.) Aaron Goodwin was fired by LeBron James and after that, he had to do his fair share of damage control. Sure, Goodwin has clients like Dwight Howard and Chris Webber (and Al Horford via this year's NBA Draft) in his stable, but to land someone the caliber of Durant, it would take an aggressive approach. Like a $40M promise on a shoe deal. Its safe to say that Durant would instantly become Goodwin's most marketable client. Durant (like LeBron James) is what I call an "answer the phone" client. All Goodwin has to do is answer the phone, because companies will be lined up to sign Durant as an endorser. That's the best type of client an agent can have...which leads me to my next point.

3.) Goodwin doesn't have a large marketing staff like agents Bill Duffy, Arn Tellem and Mark Bartlestein do for instance. As I mention above he also doesn't have nearly the number of high profile clients these other agents have. Thus, this Durant shoe deal is MUCH more important to his bottom line, than it would be for an agent who has numerous athletes on board who regularly sign lucrative marketing deals. Again for Goodwin, his main sources of income from Howard and Durant (and Horford) is via the marketing deals he secures he secures for these players. You see Goodwin receives little to no money from Durant's rookie deal because rookie deals are slotted (according to the CBA) and the commission to the agent is certainly not enough to build a business around. The agent makes his real money on the second NBA contract.  (NOTE: there are reports that Howard will sign an $80M extension with the Magic this week and that will be Howard's second contract.......Goodwin will get a nice pay day from Howard's playing contract for the first time).

4.) This deal obviously makes sense for the Durant camp because the bar was set for Goodwin and that bar was $40M. If Goodwin secures a deal north of $40M for Durant, then the Durant camp has no problem paying a commission to Goodwin. If Goodwin falls short of the bar, then the Durant camp doesn't pay Goodwin a commission. Again, going in to these shoe negotiations, a $40M bar didn't seem to be an over aggressive goal.

Right now, my sources tell me that the Durant camp is split. My sources tell me that Kevin wants to sign with Nike because he feels a loyaly to some of the executives he's been close to since 8th grade. My sources also tell me that Goodwin and Durant's mom want the adidas deal because its more lucrative (at this moment) than the Nike deal and it also hits the $40M mark Goodwin needs to hit to get paid on the shoe deal.

I received a few emails yesterday asking me why it is so important that Durant already have a shoe deal done. Some people emailed me telling me Durant and Goodwin should take their time until they get the deal they want. Two responses I have to those questions:

1.) I asked a prominent shoe executive today if he could remember the last time a player of Durant's caliber went in to the NBA Draft without a signed shoe deal? He said "no". What happens when a deal drags out like this is that the agent starts to look like he doesn't have control of the situation. The shoe companies also start to lose patience. These companies made their pitches weeks ago and they are waiting on deals with other athletes because the Durant deal will either eat up a good portion of their athlete budget or it will leave them with money to sign other players if they don't sign Durant. Nobody likes to be left hanging, especially if you feel like you've made an aggressive pitch.

2.) The other more important reason is because after the draft is when the shoe companies really focus on their ad campaigns for the upcoming season. For instance, adidas' core NBA players will be in Los Angeles this Friday shooting a TV commercial. If Durant chooses adidas and does so after Friday, doesn't he miss out on being a part of that spot? Big miss for the player and for the shoe company.

What will likely happen from here? According to the people I have spoken with today, Goodwin is not at all pleased with my story from yesterday and I'd fully expect him to deny that this secret agreement exists. Goodwin will also want to keep the focus on an actual shoe deal for Durant and shift the media spotlight away from the $40M promise I reported. As I mention above, my story is picking up steam and interest, so it is in Goodwin's best interest to change the subject from "secret agreements" to a "signed shoe deal" as soon as possible. Expect a Durant shoe deal to be done before week's end.

Will you ever hear from anyone who will go on record and verify my report of this secret agreement that only a handful of people know about? Certainly not. That's not how these things are done and from what I heard today, the principles involved in this deal are horrified that word of the deal ever saw the light of day.

Last but not least, I would fully expect that when the terms of the deal are floated out there, that the numbers will be north of $40M, even if the actual deal is less than that, so that Aaron Goodwin can save face. Now that my story is out there, if a deal of less than $40M was announced, Goodwin will be asked if he did in fact get paid on the shoe deal and he doesn't want to deal with those questions.

Stay tuned.