Warriors Sign Nick Young To One-Year Deal

JULY 8: Young’s deal with the Warriors is now official, the team announced in a press release.NickYoung horizontal

JULY 5: Nick Young will be joining the defending champions for the 2017/18 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Agent Mark Bartelstein tells Wojnarowski that his client has agreed to sign a one-year, $5.2MM deal with the Warriors.

[RELATED: Warriors’ 2017 offseason contract agreements]

Young turned down a $5.67MM player option to remain with the Lakers for ’17/18, so he’ll be taking a slight pay cut and will be leaving him hometown of Los Angeles in order to join the Warriors. However, his odds of earning his first championship ring increase significantly with the move.

Golden State has no cap room available, but hadn’t yet used its mid-level exception. Because the Warriors will be above the tax apron this season, their MLE is worth just $5.192MM — Young will receive that entire amount, leaving the Dubs with just the minimum salary exception available as they look for big men to fill out their roster. The team’s own free agents like Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee could receive slightly more than the minimum if they were to return, since Golden State holds their Non-Bird rights.

Last offseason, Young was viewed as a potential release candidate for the Lakers. At the time, he was coming off a season in which he averaged career-worst marks in PPG (7.3) and FG% (.339). However, he enjoyed a solid bounce-back season in 2016/17, starting 60 games for Los Angeles, averaging 13.2 PPG and posting a shooting line of .430/.404/.856.

After reaching the open market on Saturday, Young reportedly drew interest from the Timberwolves, Pelicans, and Thunder in addition to the Warriors. Minnesota was believed to have made him a two-year offer, though it likely would have only been worth the room exception, which starts at $4.328MM.

The Warriors’ total commitments for 2017/18 now appear to be in the neighborhood of $133MM, with more to come, as cap expert Albert Nahmad tweets. The tax line for this year is just over $119MM, so Golden State’s roster is starting to get expensive. By the time the team is done filling out its roster, its projected tax penalties may exceed $40MM.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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