- Warriors reserve guard Jordan Poole signed a four-year contract extension with Golden State worth up to $140MM. Now, new details have emerged about the contract’s various incentives. Anthony Slater of The Athletic unpacks the deal, revealing that – beyond the guaranteed $123MM – Poole will make an extra $1.25MM per year (i.e. $5MM across all four seasons) depending on how far the team gets in the playoffs. He will net an additional $1MM for each year he wins the league MVP award (so a very, very hypothetical total of $4MM), plus $1MM annually per every Defensive Player of the Year award. Considering his skillset, earning either honor even once seems fairly far-fetched. Poole could earn $500K per season should he qualify for an All-NBA team (there are a total of 15 such slots available) and another $500K annually should he qualify for an All-Defensive Team (there are 10 available openings). Slater notes that it is possible Poole grows into being an All-NBA talent, but is skeptical he could ever be an elite defender or named the league MVP.
OCTOBER 16, 1:06pm: The Warriors have officially signed Poole to his four-year extension, the team announced today in a press release.
As we detailed in a separate story, Golden State also extended Wiggins for four years after reaching a deal with Poole.
OCTOBER 15, 2:14pm: The Warriors and Poole have now reached an agreement on the extension, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
The four-year extension will include $123MM in guaranteed money, with an additional $17MM available via incentives, reports Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
OCTOBER 15, 10:51am: The Warriors are finalizing a four-year rookie scale extension with guard Jordan Poole, agents Drew Morrison and Austin Brown of CAA Sports tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The deal will be worth $140MM, according to Wojnarowski, who says the two sides are completing the final details and are expected to have a formal agreement soon.
Given that the $140MM figure is coming from Poole’s representatives, it’s possible that not all of that money is fully guaranteed and that a portion of it is only attainable through incentives. Still, it looks like it will be the biggest rookie scale extension signed this year outside of the maximum-salary deals completed by Ja Morant, Darius Garland, and Zion Williamson.
Poole’s huge new contract agreement comes on the heels of a breakout season, as he averaged 18.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 3.4 RPG on .448/.364/.925 shooting in 76 games (30.0 MPG) for the eventual champions.
The 23-year-old played an important role in Golden State’s title run, increasing his shooting percentages to .508/.391/.915 in 22 playoff contests (27.5 MPG) and averaging 17.0 PPG.
Poole was one of three members of the Warriors’ championship rotation who was extension-eligible and entering a potential contract year this fall. He was viewed as the team’s top priority ahead of fellow extension candidates Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins.
A practice incident earlier this month that saw Green punch Poole seemed to add more urgency to the Warriors’ desire to get an extension done, since they wanted to affirm their commitment to Poole following that altercation, rather than having his contract situation hanging over his head all season.
Even if Poole earns a full $140MM over the next four years, that figure will fall just short of what a maximum-salary contract would’ve been worth as a restricted free agent next summer, based on the NBA’s latest salary cap forecast. As our max projections show, using a $134MM cap estimate, Poole would’ve been eligible for a four-year max worth about $150MM with the Warriors or approximately $144MM if he were to sign with another team.
It’s unclear what sort of impact Poole’s extension will have on Golden State’s extension negotiations with Wiggins and Green. Joe Lacob and the ownership group have paid record-setting amounts on player salaries and luxury tax penalties for the current roster, but the team has suggested there’s a ceiling on what ownership is prepared to spend going forward. Lucrative new contracts for both Wiggins and Green may push the cost of the Warriors’ roster beyond that ceiling.
Poole will be the seventh player to sign a rookie scale extension in 2022, joining Morant, Garland, Williamson, Tyler Herro, RJ Barrett, and Keldon Johnson. Seventeen players remain eligible to sign rookie scale extensions before Monday’s deadline.
Saturday’s extension with Jordan Poole was the “first domino” in the Warriors‘ financial future and it may lead to the end of Draymond Green‘s time with the organization, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Poole will receive $123MM in guaranteed money over four years in what Kawakami believes is the team’s most important personnel move since signing Kevin Durant six years ago. The Warriors defined their future even more later in the day with a four-year extension for Andrew Wiggins.
Those deals will lead to a gigantic luxury tax bill and may limit the team’s options with Green, who is also extension-eligible. Kawakami notes that Warriors are currently looking at $190MM in salary and about the same number in tax penalties, which results in a $380MM commitment. Owner Joe Lacob and others in the organization have said they’re not willing to take on an even higher tax burden, and sources tell Kawakami that moving payroll into the $500MM range would result in an annual loss of about $100MM.
Poole is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will make $3.9MM this season before jumping to nearly $28MM in 2023/24. Wiggins’ new deal will reduce his salary by $9.3MM at the same time, so Golden State needs to trim some salary elsewhere to keep its tax around the same level. Green is an obvious target, whether or not he exercises his $27.6MM player option for next season. Kawakami believes it’s likely that Green will pick up that option and his representatives will cooperate with the Warriors to work out a trade.
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Kawakami doesn’t expect the team to consider trading Klay Thompson, even though he’s owed a combined $83.8MM over the next two years. Kawakami states that Thompson is more valuable to the Warriors than he would be to another team and notes that he has been playing small forward more often, which allows more backcourt minutes for Poole and Stephen Curry.
- The Warriors are currently projected to have a $219MM total salary for 2023/24 with a tax bill of $303MM, according to salary cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link). ESPN’s Bobby Marks offers a video breakdown of what Saturday’s extensions will mean for the team’s future.
- After spending a few days away from the team for punching Poole in practice, Green returned Thursday and promised to try to rebuild chemistry with his teammates, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “It’s about making sure our team camaraderie is right,” Green said. “You can tell when you’re playing against a team and they have good camaraderie … if not, they can be broken easy … if you have that, you can build through anything. [Our camaraderie doesn’t] get very shaken.”
The Warriors have signed former No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins to a contract extension, according to NBA.com’s official transaction log.
After Wiggins’ surprise extension showed up in the transaction log, his agents Drew Morris and Steven Heumann of CAA Sports confirmed the deal, telling ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Kendra Andrews (Twitter link) that it’s a four-year, $109MM extension.
The deal includes a player option on year four, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
Wiggins, 27, enjoyed perhaps the best year of his career in 2021/22 with the Warriors. Although he fell short of the scoring averages he posted in earlier seasons with the Timberwolves, he earned his first All-Star nod and emerged as a reliable two-way player, making a career-high 39.3% of his three-pointers and handling challenging defensive assignments on the wing.
Wiggins averaged 17.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 73 games (31.9 MPG) during the regular season, then played a crucial role in the Warriors’ title run, putting up 16.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 1.8 APG on .469/.333/.646 shooting in 22 playoff contests (34.9 MPG).
Having signed a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension while he was still in Minnesota, Wiggins will earn $33,616,770 this season in the final year of that deal, then take a pay cut on his new extension, which will be worth just over $27MM per year. According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), Wiggins’ salary will dip to about $24.3MM in the first year of his next contract, which begins in 2023/24.
Wiggins’ agreement comes on the heels of Jordan Poole striking a four-year, $123MM+ deal with the Warriors earlier today. Golden State has now made nine-figure commitments to two of its key extension-eligible rotation players in less than 24 hours, further increasing the franchise’s record-setting payroll in the coming years.
With Wiggins and Poole locked up, the future of Draymond Green looms as a major question mark for the Warriors. Although it’s still possible that he’ll remain in Golden State for years to come, Green probably can’t realistically expect to receive a long-term contract that has an average annual value matching or exceeding his $27.6MM option for 2023/24.
If Green picks up that option, the cost of the Warriors’ ’23/24 roster – taking into account both player salaries and luxury tax penalties – is projected to exceed $500MM, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
The Warriors have made a series of roster moves in advance of the regular season deadline, announcing that they’ve converted guard Ty Jerome and swingman Anthony Lamb to two-way contracts while waiving guards Jerome Robinson and Pat Spencer (Twitter links).
All four players were in training camp on Exhibit 10 contracts, which can be converted to two-way deals or can make a player eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the team’s G League affiliate. Robinson and Spencer look like candidates to take the latter route and join the Santa Cruz Warriors if they clear waivers.
The 24th pick in the 2019 draft, Jerome spent his rookie season with the Suns before being sent to the Thunder as part of the Chris Paul trade. The 6’5″ guard, who helped Virginia win an NCAA championship in 2018/19, spent the last two seasons with Oklahoma City, averaging 8.6 PPG, 2.1 RPG and 2.6 RPG on .410/.353/.790 shooting in 81 total games with the Thunder (19.6 MPG). He was traded to Houston last month and was subsequently waived by the Rockets.
Lamb went undrafted out of Vermont in 2020 and signed a two-way contract with the Rockets during the ’20/21 season, appearing in 24 games (17.3 MPG) while averaging 5.5 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .390/.324/.857 shooting. He spent most of last season in the G League with Houston’s affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 17.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 4.8 APG and 1.3 BPG on .466/.390/.757 shooting in 31 regular season games (34.4 MPG).
Jerome and Lamb will provide depth in the Warriors’ backcourt and are eligible to play in up to 50 regular season games on their two-way deals. They’ll earn $508,891 apiece this season.
While it’s possible Golden State will sign-and-waive more players on Saturday, the team’s roster looks fairly set for the regular season. The Warriors will keep the 15th spot on their standard roster open to start the year, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
If the Warriors want to sign Jordan Poole to a rookie scale extension before the October 17 deadline, it will likely require a baseline offer of $120MM over four years, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, who said during an appearance on the HoopsHype podcast that Tyler Herro‘s deal with Miami raised the bar for Golden State and Poole.
Slater, who believes the two sides will get something done in the coming days, suggests that the incident with Draymond Green last week might’ve create some additional urgency on the Warriors’ side, since they won’t want Poole’s contract situation hanging over his head all year after what happened with Green.
Slater also observes that there are some teams who project to have cap room next year that could realistically offer Poole a maximum-salary offer sheet. In Slater’s view, the Magic and Spurs are among the rebuilding teams who could use a backcourt scorer like Poole and would have the financial flexibility to make life difficult for the Warriors if the 23-year-old makes it to restricted free agency.
Here’s more out of Golden State:
- The Warriors appear to be in “wait-and-see” mode on potential extensions for Green and Klay Thompson, says Slater. There’s no real urgency on the Thompson front because he’s under contract for two more guaranteed seasons. Green can become a free agent next summer, but the Warriors will likely want to see how this season plays out to get a sense of how he regains the team’s trust, what his market will be like, and whether he’ll be able to top his $27.6MM player option.
- Andrew Wiggins is also extension-eligible, and Slater believes the Warriors would be interested in exploring a new deal if the former No. 1 pick is willing to take a slight pay cut (perhaps from his current $33.6MM into the 20s). But it’s unclear whether Wiggins would consider that as he comes off his best NBA season.
- Slater believes Moses Moody is a better bet than Jonathan Kuminga or Patrick Baldwin Jr. to step into a rotation role immediately this season, since he’s a good fit for a three-and-D spot. While the Warriors like Baldwin’s long-term potential, Slater expects him to spend a lot of time in the G League as a rookie.
- The Warriors allowed their veterans to take on a major role in the handling of the Green/Poole altercation last week, according to Slater, who points to Stephen Curry, Kevon Looney, and Andre Iguodala as players who were very involved. “The players are of the belief that it’s better for the team to bring Draymond back in now,” Slater said.
It feels like “the clock is ticking down” on the relationship between the Warriors and Draymond Green, according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, who likens the situation to the start of the “accommodation stage in a turbulent but prosperous marriage,” with the strains becoming increasingly visible.
In Kawakami’s view, it seems safe to assume that Green’s future with the Warriors beyond the 2022/23 season is very much up in the air, since team executives already weren’t 100% sure about a lucrative new commitment to Green even before he punched teammate Jordan Poole in a practice last week.
Both sides need one another for now, since the Warriors probably can’t realistically win another title this season without Green, but the latest misstep by the former Defensive Player of the Year is a sign that a divorce is probably coming at some point, Kawakami writes.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- The Warriors may have been more inclined to suspend Draymond Green for his actions if they weren’t receiving their championship rings on opening night of the regular season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski stated during a TV appearance (video link via ClutchPoints). “If this incident had landed in the middle of the regular season, there’d probably be a suspension. If the Warriors weren’t defending champions and were just playing an ordinary opening night, there might very well be a suspension,” Wojnarowski said. “Golden State did not want to punish Draymond Green in a way where he’d miss opening night where he’d get his fourth ring with the Warriors.”
- Jordan Poole is the only reason the Warriors’ championship defense isn’t “in tatters,” according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who lauds the fourth-year guard for the role he has played in the team’s efforts to mend fences.
- Head coach Steve Kerr praised Kevon Looney, whom he called the team’s “moral compass” – for the role he played in helping the Warriors navigate the Green incident. “He’s a special human being. Special,” Kerr said, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “And he was a key instrument in everything that we’ve had going the last week to try to get things back on track.”
- Andre Iguodala still hadn’t scrimmaged as of Tuesday night and won’t be active when the Warriors begin their season next week vs. the Lakers, according to Kerr (Twitter link via Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area).
- It has been 18 months since James Wiseman, who suffered a meniscus tear in April 2021, last played in a regular season NBA game. Kendra Andrews of ESPN takes a look at how Wiseman pushed through that long, challenging rehab process – which included multiple setbacks – to get back on the court this fall.
The Warriors have opened up both of their two-way contract slots, announcing today (via Twitter) that they’ve waived guards Quinndary Weatherspoon and Lester Quinones. Both players had been on two-way deals.
With Weatherspoon and Quinones on waivers, the four players who are on Exhibit 10 contracts with the Warriors have become prime candidates to fill those newly opened two-way spots. Ty Jerome, Jerome Robinson, Pat Spencer, and Anthony Lamb are all eligible to have their Exhibit 10 deals converted into two-ways.
The 49th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Weatherspoon signed a two-way contract with the Warriors in January after spending his first two years in the NBA with San Antonio. The 26-year-old appeared in 11 games for Golden State, averaging 2.7 PPG and 1.3 RPG in 6.6 MPG.
Quinones, meanwhile, agreed to a two-way deal with the Warriors after going undrafted out of Memphis in June. Quinones averaged 10.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.3 APG and 1.2 SPG during his junior season in 2021/22, shooting 44.9% from the field and making 39.0% of his three-point attempts.
Golden State has until Monday to set its roster for the regular season.
The Warriors have opted to fine, but not suspend, forward/center Draymond Green for punching teammate Jordan Poole in a practice last Wednesday, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Tuesday night. As Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes, Kerr also said that Green, who has been away from the team since the altercation, will rejoin the club on Thursday.
Kerr acknowledged that the Warriors may face criticism for their decision not to suspend Green, but explained that the team made the decision it felt was best after a series of internal discussions involving players, coaches, and executives.
Poole was among the players consulted during the decision-making process, meeting with Kerr and the front office multiple times, and also meeting with Green, as Andrews relays. The fourth-year guard was “willing to get back out on the floor with Draymond and go to work,” according to Kerr.
“This is the biggest crisis that we’ve had since I’ve been the coach here,” Kerr said. “It’s really serious stuff. We’re not perfect. … But we’re going to lean on the experience that we have together and trust that this is the best decision for our team. We have a lot of work to do. All of us.”
Warriors head of basketball operations Bob Myers first said last Thursday that he didn’t think Green would be suspended, but it was unclear if the club intended to stick to that plan after TMZ published video of the punch on Friday.
Green, who privately apologized to Poole and the team on Thursday, reiterated that apology publicly on Saturday, announcing at that time that he would step away from the Warriors for at least a few days and admitting that he had work to do to regain the trust of his teammates and the organization.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kerr expressed confidence that Green will be able to mend the necessary fences, but said he’ll be keeping a close eye on how the team’s young players look at the former Defensive Player of the Year, according to Andrews. Some of those players are newcomers and don’t have a preexisting relationship with Green.
“There is no way around it: (Our) culture has been damaged by this incident,” Kerr said. “You have to work to repair that. … (Green) broke our trust, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because I think he’s earned that.”
The expectation is that Green will play in Golden State’s preseason finale vs. Denver on Friday and will be available for the team’s regular season opener next Tuesday vs. the Lakers.
- Former Warriors assistant coach Joe Roberts has passed away at age 86, the team announced (via Twitter). A former NBA and ABA player, Roberts coached the Warriors from 1974-79, including the team’s first championship-winning club in 1975. Roberts served as head coach for the final 44 minutes of the series-clinching Game 4 after Alvin Attles was ejected, the Warriors noted in their press release. We send our condolences to Roberts’ friends and family.