Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says he’s not concerned about entering the final year of his contract and anticipates he’ll be with the organization for the long haul, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.
“I feel great about my position here and I want to be here … I’m not stressed about it at all,” Kerr said during a press conference on Monday. “I’m perfectly capable of coaching whether I have one year left or an extension. Makes no difference but I fully expect to be here.”
Shooting guard Klay Thompson is also in the final year of his contract. He’ll make $43.2MM during the upcoming season.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. is optimistic he’ll be able to reach agreements with both Kerr and Thompson, Warriors on NBCS tweets.
“On both sides, there’s a desire to extend or be back, to make sure those guys are with the Golden State Warriors moving forward,” Dunleavy said. “Both sides feel that way and when you’re working off of that idea, you can come to a deal.”
Dunleavy, who also held a press conference, added that there’s “no specific timeline” to reach extension deals with Kerr and Thompson.
In a story written prior to the press conferences, Slater said it’s anticipated that negotiations with the head coach will be less complicated, since there are no luxury tax concerns with coaching salaries.
No official offers or counteroffers have been made from either side regarding an extension for Thompson, Slater reports. However, neither side is in a hurry to get something done. Slater anticipates that talks will heat up prior to the season.
Golden State is intent on not hitting the second tax apron next summer, which makes those negotiations trickier. In consultation with The Athletic’s cap expert Danny Leroux, Slater estimates that Thompson could be offered anywhere from around $42MM to approximately $51.9MM as a starting salary, but suggests the Warriors would be taking a risk if they go much above $42MM since they won’t know the actual cap increase until after the season.
If they don’t reach an extension agreement, they’d risk losing one of their longtime core pieces.
Klay needs to take a big hometown discount considering he got paid about 80 million bucks to not play for 2 years.
If Draymond didn’t give them a discount then Klay has zero reason to…
If Klay wants to stay with the Warriors he has reason to give a little. He is not a $40+ million per year player any longer and if he insists on getting that kind of money for more than 2 years guaranteed the Warriors should tell him to try to get that contract from some other team. He will have a hard time finding a team that could fit that contract under their cap let alone find a team who thinks he is worth it.
Finding a team that he’ll fit in the cap is hard…
Finding a team willing to take a chance on him however…
He’d have far more suitors than Harden…
Not in the $40 million range unless he has a MVP season. He will get most like a 3/$100 million deal. Klay has made a lot already and money doesn’t motivate him.
Draymond didn’t suffer the number of career changing injuries Klay did. He isn’t the same player he was. At some point people got to choose between winning and sacrificing. There’s a lot of talk about the young Warriors needing to sacrifice for the team. It’s time for the vets too. Same goes with Chris Paul who has 0 rings and 0 finals appearances yet wants to be a starter when you have the splash brothers.
Look at Duncan vs Kobe at the end. Duncan was winning rings up to the end by sacrificing money. Kobe was making his and the Lakers were a joke. It’s money or rings rarely both.
Klay would have value on the open market, unlike the Draymond situation, so the Warriors hands are tied…
Klay’s time as an elite player is far behind him. Paying him above $20m is a huge mistake.
i agree with BloodFarts
Agree,Thompson is nothing but a three point threat at this stage of his career. Gives you nothing on defense has all of his athletic abilities. Sadly injury has left this dub a dud.
I don’t give a damn what anybody says. Warriors should keep their core(SC,KT,DG) til the wheels fall off. The way the NBA is trending it’s going to be awhile before we see another dynasty.
It’d be a nice story even if they keep that core until they are the pieces needed to tank with…
Would be nice for a team to show that kind of loyalty to the players they drafted… Would also help them convince players of the culture of the team…
That’s easy to say, but it’s no longer a feel good story if you give Klay a blank check and in a few years you have an untradable guy who’s no longer good making max money.
You simply don’t trade the core and ride the tank until they retire