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2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Golden State Warriors

April 22nd, 2020 at 5:20pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.

With Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston gone and Klay Thompson out for the season with an ACL injury, the Warriors were expected to fall off to some extent in 2019/20. Once Stephen Curry went down with a long-term hand injury, Golden State bottomed out completely, entering the NBA’s hiatus with a 15-50 record, worst in the league.

Armed with a top-five pick in the 2020 draft and a $17MM+ trade exception, the Warriors are uniquely positioned to bring back multiple healthy stars while continuing to upgrade their roster — assuming they’re willing to pay a substantial tax penalty to do so.

Here’s where things stand for the Warriors financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:

Guaranteed Salary

Stephen Curry ($43,006,362)
Klay Thompson ($35,361,360)
Andrew Wiggins ($29,542,010)
Draymond Green ($22,246,956)
Kevon Looney ($4,821,429)
Jordan Poole ($2,063,280)
Eric Paschall ($1,517,981)
Alen Smailagic ($1,517,981)
Marquese Chriss ($800,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. ¹
Shaun Livingston ($666,667) — Waived via stretch provision.
Damion Lee ($600,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.
Total: $142,144,026

Player Options

None

Team Options

None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Ky Bowman ($1,517,981)
Mychal Mulder ($1,517,981)
Juan Toscano-Anderson ($1,517,981)
Damion Lee ($1,162,796)
Marquese Chriss ($1,024,003) ¹
Total: $6,740,742

Restricted Free Agents

None

Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds

No. 2 overall pick ($8,730,240)
Matt Barnes ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights ²
Andrew Bogut ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights ²
Jonas Jerebko ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights ²
David West ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights ²
Marcus Derrickson ($1,445,697): Non-Bird rights ²
Total: $16,658,193

Offseason Cap Outlook

Barring a series of cost-cutting moves, it looks as if the Warriors will probably have the NBA’s highest team salary and tax bill next season by a comfortable margin. A roster that starts with their eight fully guaranteed salaries, plus full salaries for Chriss, Lee, and Bowman, would approach $146MM. Throw in a pricey lottery pick, plus potential additions using their massive trade exception and the taxpayer mid-level exception, and the cost of this roster would be eye-popping.

It will be interesting to see whether a reduced salary cap for 2020/21 will have a noticeable impact on the Warriors’ aggressiveness. The current ownership group hasn’t been shy about spending big, and it will want to take advantage of a still-open championship window with Curry, Thompson, and Green in their early 30s. But if the team does go all-in, its luxury tax bill will end up being comically large.

Cap Exceptions Available

Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,718,000 ³
Trade exception: $17,185,185 (expires 7/7/20)
Trade exception: $2,177,483 (expires 1/25/21)
Trade exception: $1,925,880 (expires 2/8/21)
Trade exception: $1,897,800 (expires 2/8/21)
Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/8/21)
Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 2/8/21)
Trade exception: $1,597,100 (expires 7/8/20)
Trade exception: $1,597,100 (expires 7/8/20)
Trade exception: $869,699 (expires 7/7/20)
Trade exception: $407,257 (expires 7/8/20)

Footnotes

Chriss’ new salary guarantee date is unknown.
The cap holds for Barnes, Bogut, Jerebko, West, and Derrickson remain on the Warriors’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2019/20. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
This is a projected value.

Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Green: KD’s Contract Was “Elephant In The Room” In 2018/19

April 21st, 2020 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

After watching the first two episodes of ESPN’s “Last Dance” documentary, Warriors big man Draymond Green drew some parallels between the 1997/98 Bulls and the 2018/19 Warriors.

Appearing on Uninterrupted’s “WRTS: After Party” show with Paul Rivera and Maverick Carter, Green suggested that the uncertainty surrounding Kevin Durant‘s contract situation during the ’18/19 season prevented Golden State from approaching the year knowing whether it would be that group’s last chance to win a title.

“Kevin took the one-year deal on his own. So that was kind of the elephant in the room,” Green said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. “And although (head coach) Steve (Kerr)‘s approach was like, ‘Hey, guys, let’s approach this year because we don’t know what next year brings,’ you’ve got Kevin’s contract, you’ve got (Klay Thompson)’s contract, and I kind of got thrown in that contract thing, although I had another year after that year, which was this year.

“And so that was kind of the elephant in the room, and although Steve would kind of hit on it, (saying) ‘Let’s just enjoy this year for what it is because we don’t know what next year holds,’ it didn’t necessarily carry the same weight because what should have happened was Kevin come out and say, ‘Hey, man, this is it (his last year with the Warriors), so let’s do this,’ or, ‘This isn’t it.'”

As Green mentioned, Durant signed a one-year contract with the Warriors during the summer of 2018. While that was Durant’s third consecutive short-term deal with the team, there was an understanding when he signed his previous two contracts that he wouldn’t be exploring the free agent market when they expired. That wasn’t the case with his third deal, so KD and the rest of the Warriors faced questions throughout the ’18/19 season about his future and the team’s future.

In the case of Michael Jordan‘s Bulls, there was an understanding heading into the ’97/98 campaign that it would be his and head coach Phil Jackson‘s final year in Chicago. Green suggested this week that having that sort of certainty last season may have benefited the Warriors.

“There was always an elephant in the room amongst us, as opposed to with (the Bulls), they didn’t have that elephant,” Green said. “(General manager Jerry Krause) had said it was Phil’s last year. Phil had told them this was the last dance. Mike already said, ‘Well, if Phil ain’t coming back next year, I’m not either.’ So everybody knew it was Mike’s last year. They didn’t have that elephant. Whereas I think we had a huge elephant sitting in the room, and Steve was trying to address it as best as he could, but it was kind of out of his hands.”

Even if Green is right that Durant’s contract situation was a distraction for the Warriors, the team still came close to winning a third consecutive championship last spring, and may very well have done so if not for injuries to Durant and Thompson before and during the NBA Finals.

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Paul, Draft, Oubre, Kaminsky

April 16th, 2020 at 10:44pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Warriors‘ dynasty almost didn’t happen. Golden State was looking for an All-Star back in 2011 and the franchise offered Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to New Orleans in exchange for Chris Paul, Ethan Strauss writes in The Victory Machine (h/t Dan Feldman of NBC Sports).

Paul, whose contract expired at the end of that season, reportedly told the Warriors that he would not re-sign with them, which nixed the negotiations. Paul was later dealt to the Lakers in a trade that was vetoed. He ultimately ended up on the Clippers via another trade.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

If the NBA doesn’t resume, the Warriors are guaranteed a top-five pick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic examines the team’s options with that selection. As Slater details, trading it away for a proven vet is worth exploring, especially if there are no surefire prospects in the draft, as some believe.
Trading down is an option for the Warriors in the draft and Slater (in the same piece) proposes a fun hypothetical deal that sends Kelly Oubre and the Suns‘ pick (projected to be No. 10) to the Warriors for their top-five pick. Oubre would fit in nicely with the team’s core and his salary would fit into the team’s $17.2MM trade exception.
Suns GM James Jones said that Oubre, who underwent meniscus surgery back in February, and Frank Kaminsky, who was dealing with a patella stress fracture, have both medically healed, Gina Mizell of The Athletic tweets. Both have “kind of pressed the pause button” though, as they can’t participate in traditional sports rehab.

Chriss Now Recognizes Center As His Best Position

April 13th, 2020 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier in his career, Marquese Chriss was insistent about his preference to play power forward, but the Warriors‘ big man now admits it’s not his ideal position, per Lowe. “I was naive,” Chriss said. “I realize now the skill set I have is better for (center).”

[SOURCE LINK]

Draft Notes: Whitney, Scouting, Bruner, Mock Draft

April 10th, 2020 at 7:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Freshman forward Kahlil Whitney, who dropped out of Kentucky in January, has declared for the draft and will hire an agent, Jonathan Givony of ESPN reports. Whitney’s stock has taken a major hit since he arrived at Kentucky. He was the No. 12 recruit in the 2019 ESPN 100, but he struggled to keep his spot in the Wildcats’ rotation, averaging 3.3 PPG and 1.7 RPG in 12.8 MPG. He appeared in 18 games before dropping out of school. The 6’7” Whitney is ranked as the No. 80 NBA draft prospect in ESPN’s top 100 for the 2020 draft.

We have more draft-related news:

The limitations for scouting prospects due to the pandemic has some executives worried about their evaluations, Keith Smith of NBC Sports reports. For the time being, they can only look at film. As the process moves along, they can conduct virtual meetings with prospects but workouts, and even watching live workouts remotely, are prohibited. There are other concerns as well. “If there are medical red flags, it can take a guy right off our draft board,” an Eastern Conference GM told Smith. “Now, we have to trust what we get from the agent, and there’s different motivation there. Then we, of course, want to see the guy work out.”
Jordan Bruner has apparently opted to change schools rather than enter the draft pool. The former Yale forward is transferring to Alabama, Tyler DeLuca of Sooner Sportspad tweets. An earlier report suggested that Bruner, who has one year of eligibility remaining, would enter the draft.
The latest ESPN mock draft has the Warriors selecting Georgia guard Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 overall pick. Edwards is ranked No. 1 on ESPN’s best available list. The mock draft, conducted by Givony and Mike Schmitz, has the Cavaliers selecting center James Wiseman with the No. 2 pick and the Hawks taking Auburn swingman Isaac Okoro at No. 3.

Joe Lacob Unsure How Hiatus Will Impact Warriors’ Future Spending

April 10th, 2020 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors, who wouldn’t have hosted any playoff games this spring if the NBA season had played out as scheduled, may not be the team hit hardest by the league’s indefinite suspension. However, owner Joe Lacob admitted that the lost revenue as a result of the hiatus and its potential impact on the salary cap going forward have created uncertainty about Golden State’s future spending ability.

Appearing on The TK Show with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Lacob was asked whether the Warriors still plan to go full-steam ahead next season, using their $17MM trade exception and full taxpayer mid-level exception to bolster their roster. As Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area relays, Lacob has adjusted his stance a little since declaring last February that the franchise can “do whatever we want” financially.

“We’re looking obviously at all of those questions and the possible answers,” Lacob said. “But I don’t really have a good sense yet because I really have no idea how this is gonna shake out. We don’t know what the salary cap is going to be, we don’t know what the luxury tax is going to be, so we don’t really know what we can plan on at this point. We just have to look at a lot of different scenarios, and that’s what we’re doing right now. (The NBA’s stoppage) could make a huge difference and it might make no difference.”

When Kawakami pointed out that the Warriors may have a limited window of opportunity to continue competing for championships, given that Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are all now in their 30s, Lacob acknowledged that the team still wants to take advantage of that window as best it can.

“That was our plan and still – until further notice – is our plan for next year and the next few years,” he said. “However, a lot of things could change. And we’re going to have to adjust, just like every other team’s going to have to adjust, to whatever the new world order is, to whatever the new situation is in the NBA.”

During his half-hour conversation with Kawakami, Lacob addressed a few other topics of interest. Here are a few of the highlights from the discussion, which is worth checking out in full for Warriors fans:

On the Warriors’ draft plans:

“We’ve never spent more time as a group on the draft as we have this year. Obviously we have a lot more time to do it, we all do. I have watched videos of probably all the top players at this point. I’ve watched interviews, I’ve watched high school highlights, AAU highlights, like everybody else. … I think there’s enough information out there and enough work that’s being put in our side that we’ll be able to make a good decision and try to help our team.

“We’re going to look at all scenarios. … We’re going to look at drafting someone at our position, we’re going to look at maybe we trade down. I’m not saying that’s preferred or not preferred, I’m just saying it’s something we have to look at. We’re going to look at all options and we’re going to figure out a way to have our team be the best possible team that it could be for this year, but still with an eye toward building for the future.”

On signing D’Angelo Russell to a four-year contract and trading him seven months later:

“We thought (acquiring Russell in a sign-and-trade) was a great opportunity to be able to get a player in the wake of losing a Kevin Durant. To get anything of that quality was just an advantage, whether it worked out or not. We did not do it just for that reason, but we did it because we thought he could potentially be a part of what we were building for the future.

“That wasn’t without risk. We all understood that he was another guard, so we had to wait and see how it all worked out. I think as time went on we obviously began to take a little bit different look at the whole thing in terms of the fit, and even though he’s a good guy and really performed quite well for us, I think we all made the decision that perhaps there was a better fit out there than that. … Maybe it could have worked out, but we made the decision – right or wrong, we’ll find out – that (Andrew) Wiggins would be the better fit for us. And we think it’s a great fit, actually.”

On finding the silver lining in Durant’s decision to leave Golden State:

“He wouldn’t have played this last year, he was injured. We would have had a huge payroll as a team. So I think maybe this is the best thing. We’re able to start a rebuild a little bit earlier than we otherwise might have, and maybe it’ll prove to be the right thing in the long run that that occurred. I’m an optimist, I always look at things for what’s the positive in the situation. Yes, he left, that’s negative, but the positive is we got a chance to move forward quicker and to move into the next phase of what we’re doing.”

On NBA teams reducing certain employees’ salaries and/or furloughing staffers:

“There are no plans like that with us. … I think at this point in time, knowing what we know… our view is that we need and value all of our employees. We spent a lot of time hiring these people and training them and building up this organization to be a really good one, and I don’t want to tear it down unless for some reason we really had to, if there was economic calamity.”

And-Ones: Clippers, Pistons, Cavs, Young

April 7th, 2020 at 9:49pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.

L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.

The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:

The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Thaddeus Young will find himself on the trade block this offseason. Young, who inked a deal the Bulls last summer, was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the season.
NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.

Slater Explores Possible Uses For Warriors' Trade Exception

April 7th, 2020 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Anthony Slater of The Athletic explores 10 potential uses for the Warriors‘ $17MM traded player exception, assuming the team is still in position to spend big on its roster this offseason. Some of Slater’s suggested targets (such as Thaddeus Young or Dewayne Dedmon) would be far more attainable than others (like Marcus Smart or Robert Covington).

Warriors Notes: Free Agent Targets, Wiggins

April 3rd, 2020 at 11:35am CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors‘ ability to spend on free agents during the 2020 offseason will be limited, but Anthony Slater of The Athletic suggests there are dozens of players who could be fits, ranging from long-shots like Paul Millsap to lower-cost options like D.J. Augustin or Meyers Leonard. In Slater’s view, veteran wing Jae Crowder would be the best fit for Golden State among the realistic mid-level-type targets.
Can Andrew Wiggins, who has a .372 winning percentage in 454 career NBA games, be a reliable contributor on a contender? That will be one of the key questions facing the Warriors during the 2020 offseason as they decide whether to stick with Wiggins or flip him in a trade, according to Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago.

Poll: What Should Warriors Do If They Get No. 1 Pick?

April 2nd, 2020 at 1:33pm CST by Luke Adams

After playing in five consecutive NBA Finals, the Warriors bottomed out in 2019/20, losing Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston last offseason and then having stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson miss essentially the entire season with injuries.

The good news? Curry and Thompson should be fully healthy for ’20/21 and the Warriors’ disastrous season would give them the league’s best lottery odds if the regular season is over.

Under the NBA’s new lottery format, the worst team in the league only has a 14% chance of landing the first overall pick, so the odds are against the Warriors winning the lottery. But what if they do? What would Golden State do with the pick in that situation?

Faced with that question during a SportsCenter appearance this week, ESPN draft guru Mike Schmitz (video link) suggested that the 2020 draft has long been considered “needs-based,” since there’s no one transcendent prospect that stands head and shoulders above the rest. With that in mind, Schmitz says big man James Wiseman is a player who would fit the Warriors’ roster, suggesting the club could use that sort of rim-runner and lob-catcher on offense and rim-protector on defense.

However, Schmitz notes that if he were making the Warriors’ pick, he’d lean toward guard LaMelo Ball, whom he views as the most talented prospect in the 2020 class. As Schmitz explains, Curry isn’t a point guard who always needs the ball in his hands, so he could play alongside Ball. And Golden State would be an ideal spot for the new owner of the Illawarra Hawks to develop, Schmitz adds.

While Wiseman and Ball could both be fits, Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle has heard from multiple league sources that the Warriors aren’t believed to be particularly high on either prospect.

“I think they’d only take one of those two if they were trading down in the draft and taking them for another team,” one source told The Chronicle.

According to Letourneau, shooting guard Anthony Edwards appears likely to be Golden State’s top choice if the team lands – and keeps – the No. 1 overall pick. But the Warriors would be open to trading the first overall selection if they do win the lottery, Letourneau notes.

If the Dubs don’t get the No. 1 pick, or decide to trade down, one target might be EuroLeague forward Deni Avdija. One league source tells The Chronicle that there are teams who believe Golden State would have Avdija as high as No. 2 on its draft board, behind only Edwards. Meanwhile, Letourneau also hears that the Warriors may have guard Tyrese Haliburton higher on their board than Ball.

Given all the options the Warriors would have if they win the lottery, we want to know what you think. Which prospect do you think would be the best target for Golden State with the No. 1 pick? Or do you think the club would be better off trading that pick in the hopes of acquiring more assets or an impact veteran?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.