Signing all of Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, and Klay Thompson to lucrative contract extensions that lock them up long-term probably isn’t financially viable for the Warriors, according to Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
As Slater and Thompson outline, extending Green, Wiggins, and Poole to deals that are worth a combined $90MM or so in 2023/24 would result in that season’s roster costing a projected $550MM+ when accounting for team salary and luxury tax penalties. Joe Lacob and Warriors ownership spent a record $362MM on the roster this past season, but Lacob has suggested that even $400MM+ may be too step a price for the organization to stomach, per The Athletic’s duo.
Removing even one of those three hypothetical extensions (worth approximately $27-30MM) from the Warriors’ books for 2023/24 would result in the projected cost of the roster decreasing by more than $200MM, due primarily to the tax savings, according to Slater and Thompson.
In other words, unless they can negotiate some very team-friendly deals, the Warriors may soon face a major decision on which one of their core players they’re most comfortable moving on from.
Here’s more from Slater and Thompson:
- Draymond Green believes he has earned a four-year, maximum extension from the Warriors, sources tell The Athletic. Such a deal would begin in 2023/24 and would be worth about $138.7MM. However, there are no indications that Golden State plans to put that offer on the table for Green this offseason, even though he can reach unrestricted free agency next year if he turns down his ’23/24 player option.
- Green wants to remain with the Warriors, but his contract situation will be worth keeping an eye on, according to Slater and Thompson, who suggest the former Defensive Player of the Year could be willing to explore other options to get the kind of contract he wants. Sources also tell The Athletic that Stephen Curry wouldn’t be happy if the club lost Green for financial reasons.
- Andrew Wiggins may be the best candidate on the Warriors’ roster to sign an extension this offseason, but the club would want any deal to start well below Wiggins’ maximum, per Slater and Thompson. The duo believes Golden State would be interested in a contract starting in the $27MM range. Wiggins will earn $33.6MM in 2022/23 and is coming off his best season as a pro, so he’ll likely be seeking more than that.
- New deals for Anfernee Simons (four years, $100MM) and Jalen Brunson (four years, $104MM) figure to be reference points for Jordan Poole and the Warriors as they explore an extension, Slater and Thompson observe.
- Klay Thompson still has two guaranteed years left on his contract, so he’s probably the least likely of these four Warriors to sign an extension this year, according to Slater and Thompson, who say there’s no sense that Thompson is “clamoring” for a new deal.
Sorry Draymond, but between you, Poole and Wiggins, you’re the odd man out.
You might feel like you’ve earned 4/$138M, but contracts aren’t about past performance, they’re about predicted future performance (which, yes, past performance plays a part in).
Also, if you’re 4/$138 is actually going to end up costing the team $200M annually? Uh, no.
There is NO WAY Draymond gets that contract, he is starting to decline and while he is super valuable for GSW that kind of money is way over what his on court production is.
Draymond is overplaying his hand every time he opens his mouth. Real G’s move in silence.
Does anyone other than Portland or Lebron even value Draymond as a high end FA? Nah. He should just take 3/60 from GSW and win more rings – or even better, add bonuses for winning rings.
Why would you keep Poole over Draymond. Poole is replaceable. Draymond isn’t. Moody can probably replace Wiggins after next season.
For starters, Draymond is 32 and Poole is 23.
Keeping Poole is unlocking the door between the present and the future.
Keeping Draymond bricks over it.
Umm…Poole can’t play defense. Divencenzo can score and place defense. Looney credits Draymond with unlocking his ability. And, he is already helping Wiseman. Moody is developing quite nicely.
“Umm…Poole can’t play defense. ”
Dray can’t play offense, aside from setting (illegal) screens.
“Looney credits Draymond with unlocking his ability.”
Looney plays better when he shares the court with almost anyone else on the team (scroll to 2-man combinations; he’s only worse with Lee, Kuminga, and Moody):
link to basketball-reference.com
Same story with Wiseman, though he has only played 38 games as a pro:
link to basketball-reference.com
If you have to choose between Dray and Poole long term, given age/peak, it is a no-brainer to pick Poole.
Jordan Poole is our future. He just keeps getting better – defense included. There was a time when you could say the same about Steph but look where he is today. Poole will get there as well. Draymond is not what he used to be. While I love him and what he has done for the Warriors, but he can also be a liability at times. Jordan stays and Draymond takes a cut in pay to wear more rings and protect his legacy.
So Steph at 34 years old with an average annual salary through age 37 of $53.8 million isn’t being paid based of past performance??? In the last 5 seasons he’s averaged 50 games per season. So if we go with what’s most likely to happen, Steph will continue playing around 75% of the regular season schedule. So he’s getting paid $1.07 million per game if his past 5 season average continue. Not a bad gig if you can get it…….but keep telling me how he’s going to be 37 years old being paid $59.6 million and it’s not based on his past body of work up until now.
Steph is being paid for past and present. He may be playing less games so he can stay healthy for post-season, but he is a better player today than ever! How dare you even go there about the best player in the NBA. He is worth every single cent he is paid. Shame on you!!
This is all very shocking to all of Warrior fans. However, I think Draymond is just telling the ownership NOT to take him for granted. In other words, he’s saying he might not get maximum BUT dont reduce his salary or reduce number of years. Right now he’s getting $25M per for 4 yrs and he will not accept anything less than that. You can bet your money that front office trying to get him to accept much less to get the dynasty going.
I can see LeBron telling Green come play for the Lakers we will be champs down here. Funny thing is they will be way over the hill to win. Klay will end up resigning with GSW for below market value because he just loves playing on 1 team. Wiggins need to understand he is not worth any max.
Green isn’t going to work on any other team, he can pretty much only lead this GSW team, or a stacked one full of elite level athletes who can catch his oft-errant passes, those don’t really exist. Maybe with Ja Morant? I can’t really see Draymond going to another team and him making the difference and them winning a chip, wont happen – no other team has what GSW has.
lakers lose Westbrook’s bad contract next year so i would not doubt Lebron do what he does best tells a GM what to do. Green will get a good contract but he is not a max player at his age. Some NBA owners are desperate enough to thro a big wad of cash at him.
Wiggins was the 2nd most important player on the team through playoffs and finals. He is also worth every penny he makes. Don’t even go there!
Wiggins is gonna be traded this season or let go. He was a great story seeing him peak, but he’s a tweener for their plans. Not part of the old regime and not part of the future regime of players.
Green probably gonna get max just from his big mouth more than anything I’d love to see him on the sixers with tucker and Embiid
Wiggins is going to need to have a break out season to get somebody give him a 4 year max contract. Right now he gets a 4/100 contract. Unfortunately some desperate NBA team will over pay him and you will hear their fans complain.
Really? The Sixers were going to be hard-capped unless Harden took his pay cut. They’re stuck with PJ Tucker for three years and the roster is basically set in stone. They can only re-sign players with Bird-Rights.
Trading Wiggins would be catastrophic. He fits in so well with this group. I think they all need to sit down and have a talk about how they can make this work to continue the legacy. If that means taking cuts in pay, isn’t that worth continuing what you have? Just how many millions do you really need?? Stop being greedy and think of the good of the TEAM instead of just yourselves. Is $25M really not enough to live on Draymond?
There is no way Draymond gets that extension. Even if the Warriors were foolish enough to do an extension right now, it for sure wouldn’t be for 4 years at the max.
I don’t know. They were foolish enough to resign klay with a torn acl.
Klay will repay them back by signing a below market contract.
I don’t think he’ll have the option.
They were rewarded with a defensive effort that won a fourth championship. Without that, they don’t win.
Klay came back looking better than anyone expected for such a long time away! He will be better next season. Klay has worked his ass off to come back and be a contributor to this team. He will prove you all wrong!!
Still pocket watching GSW despite Lacob proving them wrong 100% of the time?
I haven’t read a more pathetic stretch than “probably isn’t financially viable for the Warriors”. You know, the NBA’s most valuable franchise? Yeah youre right, it “probably” won’t. “Probably” lol. With this “probably”, GSW moves to 0-7297543 in hypotheticals made by the peanut gallery, oh nooo *sobs into championship ring*
You have a championship ring? Cool!
Also, Lacob is already getting the ball rolling that he’s not going to pay what he said he was going to pay in years past. Looks like he didn’t know that Green would start to decline early, that Klay would get hurt and not comeback at 100%, that Wiggins would (finally) show he’s worth something, that a guy like Poole would bust out (although I wouldn’t trust that if I’m other teams), or that he’d have a trio of high draft picks that’ll need to get paid big money if he wants to keep them before Curry/Klay/Green retire. If Green and Klay were still playing like before then some of those other guys could go……but they’re going to need EVERYONE I just mentioned because none will be worth what they’ll get on their own.
No “probably” about it, either.
Honestly warriors should let go of Wiggins, Green, and Thompson when their contracts expire. Hang on to them as long as their contracts last and then let them leave. Green and Thompson are going to decline, and Wiggins isn’t worth the money he’s gonna end up with. Not saying he’s bad just not worth a huge contract. They should lock down Poole asap though.
What are you talking about? Poole is not that good. His defense is easily replaced. D.Green and Thompson have a lot left in the tank. Wiggins can bring the team something in a sign and trade.
Let their top three defensive players just pick up and leave? Keep Poole (who I like a lot) who was super exposed defensively? Your plan makes so much sense.
It does actually. You act like they wouldn’t need to fill those three roster spots. They can bring in younger, cheaper defensive oriented players through free agency and the draft. May even be able to do a sign and trade to get rid of one or more of Green/Thompson/Wiggins. Thompson is coming back from two major injuries and was not the same. Draymond is already slowing down. And Wiggins just isn’t worth the money when you factor in the taxes. But sure bash my plan as dumb when you didn’t even think to factor in free agency or draft. Father Time catches up to every player. Need to have a succession plan.
Have you paid attention to the Warriors in the last 3 years. Did you hear about them drafting Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody? What is your problem with them signing Divencenzo and J Green. Younger cheaper players. What are you complaining about? The Warriors made the decision to focus on younger a couple of seasons ago. It was publicized. I guess you are not as smart as you think.
Now you say sign and trade which will surely hard-cap them. So they can’t sign ANY free agents, there goes your plan down the drain again. Also, look up Wiseman’s defensive metrics against the pick and roll. They would go from upper level defensive team to the basement.
You are laughable!! Wiggins just proved he is worth every penny. Klay will be much better next season; he needs time to get back 100%. Draymond has declined, he should take a cut in pay to continue winning championships and his legacy. You were, however, correct about Poole. Pay the man!!
Speculation about what the Warriors do next off-season is pointless. Moody and Kuminga will continue to develop making Poole and Wiggins expendable. Dinvencenzo and J. Green are rebound candidates. D. Green sets a tone for the team that is irreplaceable.
Poole will be back if he can back up last season with another good season. I just don’t see Wiggins back because some idiot owner will throw a max contract at a player who is the third option on a good team.
Real G’s may move in silence, by Draymond moves like a businesman. It’s called “negotiation.”
Draymond may publicly state that he’s worth $35M per year for 4 years, at 34 – 38 years old, but he knows exactly what he’s worth because he recently extended his contract by 2 years at $24M per year. (That was closely following Klay getting a max deal at $42M.)
Draymond has more value to the Dubs than he does to any other team, which Draymond knows. And he also knows that no team is offering a 34 yr old, available for 60% of his games at 32 yrs, a 4 year max contract.
Expect the Dubs to offer to extend his current contract 3 years at the current price. He won’t get a better offer.
EXACTLY. He doesnt want to get anything less than now. He feels he sacrificed before and he’s right. He also wants 4 yr extension, nothing less than 4 yrs for $100M. Warriors want him to take at least $5M per paycut.
Since the league is intent on punishing teams that draft well and want to keep the players they develop, might be time to think outside the box when it comes to paying them. Klays next contract could be for the vet minimum, and they could sign Rocco to be the mascot for 100 million for 4 years.
Salary taxing teams this much is really odd, what does the nba gain from potentially seeing another franchise falter like the bulls did? Maybe reduce the tax penalty if the team rewards players they’ve drafted.
The Bulls did not falter, Phil decided to move on and that made MJ retire again, and there was a chain reaction. Reinsdorf has cash if they needed it, but Pippen was hurt and on the way down, rest of the team wasn’t enough to keep winning.
Their downfall had nothing to do with spending or lack thereof, it had to do with a front office that was terrible at drafting competent players, or at keeping and developing the few that were, until they got lucky with the ping pong balls D got Rose. Look how that turned out, dragged it out with GarPax until AkMe looks like the messiahs even by just being competitive.
So, no, League rules and caps were not to blame for ruining the Bulls.
The luxury tax exists as it does because a majority of owners (not Adam Silver and the NBA league office) don’t really care about winning championships and want to spend as little as possible. Punishing the teams that are run well and willing to spend to win campionships is the cheap and incompetent owner’s twisted way of trying to compete.
They should bring back player-coaches so someone like steph can count towards a coaches salary.
I can’t see Draymond getting half of what he makes now from a team. He’s way more valuable to the Warriors than he would be a new team
Draymonds play by itself is worth a little more than PJ Tucker’s but his locker room presence is worth about 10 million a year. I dont think another team will give him the max but there will be an overpay for his services as other teams are going to make it uncomfortable for GS.
If he opts out of 27M check him into a hospital. 4/30-40M is fair value for his skill set and age.
Hopefully, Poole doesnt get too greedy and sign an extension for 4 yrs $80-90M. Klay will be the one who has to take major paycut down to $20-25M per. As for Wiggins, Warriors can just let him play out the contract, but that would be dumb. There’s big mkt for him now. We need to sign him to an extension. He will still be a tradable asset. He’s eligible for $233m. Hopefully he will sign for much less something like $30-33M per for 5 yrs.
Poole is so overrated. He’s a product of Warriors offense and cast. He’s the first one I move. Sell high while you can. Has absolutely has no D.
Wiseman and Kuminga need mins. They are significant additions for next yr. And the future of this team. Moody has also shown he deserves a good look.
Wiggins and Poole are players I’d move for future assets. To try and keep this run going. Both have high value now. May never be as high.
Before the Simons deal, I would have said Herro and Poole are probably worth something in the 5 year/$78 million range, but now, I think it’s probably closer to the high end of $110-125 million…both would be massive overpays, but other teams messed it up for GS and the Heat
I think they need to be careful with the Wiggins deal, even though they need him as one of their only options on the wing…
Draymond Green is one of my favorite players of all time, and I thought he took a discount last time, but I think this is too much, even though I do think he is worth more than Poole and Wiggins. I could see something similar to the deal he already has though, or slightly more, even though that might mean somehow getting paid less than those guys
Green basically still has 2 yrs left on his contract, he has player option on the last yr.
He wants a long term security NOW, and not wait til next offseason.