5:25pm: The Warriors have officially waived Paul, the team confirmed (via Twitter).
4:45pm: The Warriors are waiving point guard Chris Paul, Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report tweets. Paul will now become an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers.
Golden State had to make a decision today whether to guarantee Paul’s $30MM salary for the 2024/25 season. Both the Warriors and Paul agreed to push back the guarantee date from Friday to Sunday.
The Warriors had attempted to include Paul’s contract in a blockbuster deal, including a potential swap with the Clippers for Paul George. However, they were unable to pull anything off.
Paul, who turned 39 in May, remained productive in 2023/24, averaging 9.2 points, 6.8 assists, and 3.9 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game in 58 appearances (18 starts) for the Warriors. He posted a shooting line of .441/.371/.827.
The rule prohibiting tax-apron teams from signing a waived player whose previous salary was higher than the full mid-level exception only applies if the player is cut during the regular season. Thus, Paul is free to sign with anyone.
The Suns, who can only offer veteran’s minimum contracts, could be an option for Paul, though John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) dismissed that possibility. The Clippers have also been mentioned as a potential landing spot.
Another intriguing possibility is the Spurs, according to Marc Stein (Twitter link), who says San Antonio has “strong” interest. The 12-time All-Star could be a natural, if short-term, pick-and-roll partner for Victor Wembanyama. There will undoubtedly be other suitors for the future Hall of Famer.
The Warriors, meanwhile, are in the unusual position of being under the tax aprons by shedding Paul’s contract. They currently have $147.2MM in salary commitments among 12 players, nearly $31MM under the first tax apron, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. That puts them in position to potentially use the full mid-level exception and/or bi-annual exception. Klay Thompson and Dario Saric are now free agents.
Like a good neighbor….
Phoenix or Lakers?
From a basketball fan point of view I’d like to see him play with the Spurs and Wemby.
He wants a ring, I don’t think he’d go to the Spurs even if they made the best offer.
Good news now they have MLE to spend.
MLE season!!!
CP3 wants a new max contact.
He better not not at 40 years old.
does valenciunis fit in MLE?
He would be taking a pay cut to be a part time player on a short term deal with a play-in team. Not going to happen.
Biggest Warriors W since 2022 lol
Mike Dunleavy traded a future allstar Jordan Poole and much more for an expiring CP3 just terrible asset management. Missed out on PG and letting Klay go for nothing because your that scared to pay the luxury tax really gonna waste the prime years of Curry.
Meh, we lost 12 games by 1 single bucket last year, if they won all those, they would have finished in 1st place. To me that says the lineup was pretty good, it was more due to Kerr not playing Kuminga enough all season, and playing Podz over Moody when Podz defense wasn’t cutting it due to his lack of size.
If we had won the games we’d lost we would’ve won!!??
Do you think 20 point losses and 1 point losses are the same? Do you know how basketball works?
Loss is a loss. Whether you lose by 1 5 or 20.
But by that same standard how many games did the warriors win 1 point? They could have easily loss those games negating winning games they could have won but lost by 1 point.
Poole is over paid and plays no defense. By not making the playoffs they lost a huge amount of money. New CBA doesn’t allow you to sign anyone. Klay turned down a bigger contract then he gets out there. Let’s see what happens with the MLE they have this year.
Warriors have been repeat tax payers. They’ve gone for it and some deals don’t pan out. Sorry but nobody is undefeated. They’re in a weird transition period.
SomeWhere.., everything you’ve written here is completely 100% wrong.. Number one Jordan Poole will NEVER be an all-star. Plus he burned his Bridge in San Francisco and he’s burning his Bridge in Washington.
Being rid of Jordan Poole’s atrocious contract was excellent asset management. Now that Paul has been waived they’re free from it all together.
The Warriors missed out on Paul George because the Clippers would rather see him walk instead of getting a couple of good players in return. THAT’S poor Asset Management.
Letting Klay go for nothing may or may not happen. Could be a sign and trade and get someone in return. But if he walks he walks. That’s another 20 million off the book.
Scared to pay the luxury tax? What ????
The Warriors have been the top spending team in the league for half a decade, what are you even talking about?
Waste prime years of Curry? They’ve won four championships with Curry. Now he’s 36 years old and past his “prime.”
Might be the strangest post I’ve read all day maybe all week..
I hear you. Wizards would be happy to trade away Poole’s contract right now.
You have no idea what players were offered in return for George.
It was reported. A few players and picks were made available but clippers wanted Kuminga and warriors said no.
You have no idea what I know. It’s that YOU don’t know what was offered for Paul George. News flash. Wiggins Chris Paul Moses Moody and a first round pick.
I’d love to see my Heat pick him up somehow.. think he would give us a nice distributor next to Jimmy & Bam.
I do think he’ll end up signing with either the Lakers or San Antonio.
CP3’s Klutch? He’ll probably end up on one of the LA teams.
Paul is with CAA.
He should retire and work in FO/coaching.
Why should he do that when there are teams that will still pay him good money to play?
If he doesn’t join LA, LAC, or Phx.. Sixers honestly could use him. Yea slower no defense and injuries but 18-20mpg the basketball IQ and shooting would benefit the team. Especially if they get PG13 they’d need to fill roles.
If he doesn’t want to change conference, Phoenix makes the most sense, with Lakers a close second. But IMO there are better fits in the East, especially Miami but also Philly.
He would be a fit for the Cavs or Lakers, just not as a starter.
If he’s willing to take vet minimum a lot of teams are in play. Would fit beautifully on Denver’s bench. If he’s not there may be none.
You want to go out a real Warrior. Sign with Philly for the minimum ……
Come to NY CP3. Obviously he’s going to Lakers