3:44pm: Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group passes along a couple more notes on the Warriors' cap situation, via Twitter.
- Thompson confirms that Golden State will have trade exceptions worth Richard Jefferson's and Brandon Rush's salaries ($11,046,000 and $4,000,000 respectively).
- The team will also sign Marreese Speights and Toney Douglas using its mid-level exception, while Jermaine O'Neal will get the bi-annual exception.
2:07pm: Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News has conducted a lengthy Q&A with Warriors owner Joe Lacob about the team's approach to the offseason, and its recent moves. Lacob explains how Golden State identified Dwight Howard and Andre Iguodala as its top targets and went about acquiring Iguodala. The entire piece is worth a read, particularly for Warriors fans, but here are a few of the most notable tidbits:
- According to Lacob, the Warriors decided that now was the time to make a big move and add a major piece to the core, rather than letting contracts like Richard Jefferson's and Andris Biedrins' expire and trying to make a splash next summer.
- Lacob adds that the team was "never going to part with [its] core." While he doesn't name specific players, I'm guessing he's referring to Steph Curry, Harrison Barnes, and Klay Thompson.
- The Warriors "were always going to keep" David Lee as well, says Lacob, adding that the club never offered Lee to another team in trade talks.
- Lacob, addressing the fact that Andrew Bogut's and Lee's names surfaced in trade rumors: "These are NBA players; they know trades happen. It’s part of their lives, part of their business…. We didn’t want to trade any of them or give them up in any way. We wanted to do whatever could to add to them."
- The two first-round picks the Warriors sent to the Jazz are unprotected, Lacob confirms.
- Asked if more moves are coming, Lacob says he thinks the Warriors are "done for now."
- If the club does want to add another player, there should be trade exceptions available from the three-way trade with the Jazz and Nuggets. Lacob's words: "I know we have at least an 11 I believe and a 4. There might be a 9 in there too." By my math, the Warriors created TPEs worth $11,046,000 and $4,000,000, but won't have one for $9,000,000.
- Golden State is prepared to go into luxury-tax territory going forward, says Lacob.
- Lacob on possible trade options down the road: "We have a lot of assets at this point, a lot of really good players that people want. Bob Myers gets called every day—we had some amazing offers, people calling, not us calling them, on some really good players."
- Lacob envisions Mark Jackson as the Warriors' long-term coach, but says there's no specific timetable for extension talks.
I think the Warriors are going to like Jermain O’Neal. He may not be even half the player he once was, but he still does go out and rebound and defend.