The Warriors already have the NBA’s most expensive roster, but their payroll may only continue to rise in the coming years, writes Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle.
As Letourneau outlines, Kevon Looney will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and has earned a raise on his current $5.2MM salary; Jordan Poole will be extension-eligible this offseason; and Andrew Wiggins will be entering the final year of his contract in 2022/23.
This season, those three players are earning a combined $39MM, but if Golden State wants to hang onto them going forward, that cost will likely increase substantially beginning in ’23/24, when new deals for Wiggins and Poole would go into effect. Keith Smith of Spotrac estimates that Poole’s next contract could be worth in the neighborhood of $80MM over four years, Letourneau notes.
With all this in mind, Letourneau wonders if Wiggins could be the Warriors’ odd man out. The former No. 1 overall pick has thrived in Golden State, earning his first All-Star nod this season, but Letourneau is unconvinced that the organization would be prepared to give him another maximum-salary contract next year, pushing team salary over $200MM (not counting tax penalties) — especially if Jonathan Kuminga proves increasingly capable of eventually taking over Wiggins’ starting forward spot.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Within that same Chronicle story, Letourneau suggests that Looney could be in line for a multiyear deal worth about $6MM annually this offseason, and says the Warriors will make an effort to extend Poole during the 2022 offseason.
- Cyrus Saatsaz of Locked on Warriors (video link) states that his cohost Dieter Kurtenbach of The Bay Area News Group has heard from a source that James Wiseman will return to action for Golden State on March 1, which would be the team’s third game after the All-Star break. Wiseman has described himself as being in the late stages of his rehab process, so we could certainly see him soon, though it’s worth noting that Klay Thompson‘s return was initially projected to happen before Christmas, and he didn’t make his season debut until January 9. Like they did with Thompson, the Warriors will play it safe with Wiseman, making sure he doesn’t play until he’s 100%.
- Speaking of Thompson, while he feels fully healthy, he’s still in the process of working his way back to his pre-injury form, as he tells Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “I had a good game, but I want to put together a string of games,” Thompson said after a 33-point performance against the Lakers earlier this month. “I want to be back to playing at an elite level when I was making All-NBA teams. I know that’s going to come. I’m ahead of schedule from where I thought I’d be. I’m very competitive. I want to shoot at a high percentage. I want to be as efficient as I was.” Thompson added that he also wants to continue improving on defense, where he feels as if he has about “80 to 85 percent” of his lateral quickness back.
Wiggins will be a tough sign since he is not worth the amount he is getting but worth more around $20 million a season. Will he take a pay cut to stay a Warrior or go big with some team over paying him. I got to lean on a over pay. Poole I would not give a max to for $80 million. His defense is below par.
Hopefully, they will both sign team friendly contracts like Draymond. 4 yrs 100m for Wiggins. 4yrs for $60m for Poole. Even then, luxurious tax will be outrageous.
The problem is the money for Wiseman and Kuminga will come due soon too. Poole is a 6th man off the bench so I wouldn’t over pay him.
I dunno. I think he already experienced being the overpaid guy on a bad team. He might prefer less money and a better life at this point.
I’m normally someone who agrees players will try and get paid. Wiggins seems like a unique case though.
Wiggins will go FA route. I don’t think he’ll get max. But he’ll get more than 20 mill. Raptors should, and probably will make a play for him.
Interesting thought. I think Nurse would be a great leader for him
Wiggins should be resigned at $20 million, maybe a bit more, traded at anything close to $30 million. If he’s going to go for closer to $30, then he’d be a good trade to a team with potential cap room looking for a “no regrets” swap.
If the Dubs lose Wiggins after next year, it doesn’t help much, since he creates no cap room on the Warriors’ bloated payroll. But for a team with potential cap room, they’d get an excellent player for (at least) a year, and one they can either re-sign at a market-friendly rate or give up to create cap room to go shopping for an elite Free Agent.
Key for the Dubs is to figure out whether to keep or trade before next year’s Trade Deadline takes the option out of their hands. IOW, don’t repeat the Oubre disaster.
They need to re-sign Poole. The market will set his value. If it’s too high, then they should try to work a Sign & Trade, maybe for taking on a bad contract plus either a good player or a good Draft Pick.
Wiggins has really improved his all around game. He is taking better shots. I’m happy for him, he proved me wrong.
Add me to the list. I was all over him but he’s really refined his shot selection. I’m with you, ditto.
I think we are all adjusting to the new reality of required patience, since most players, even top picks are not fully baked these days, primarily because hardly anyone plays more than one college year. G League might improve that with something like baseball’s minor league developmental system – but even in baseball you don’t see a lot of 18 or 19 year olds getting sent directly to AAA. White Sox pitcher Crochet is a rare example of a player having no professional minor league experience, but of course he played several college years.
I like Wiggs, but he s less than a perfect fit on the offensive side, and good, yes, even very good, but not $30 million good, not for a team that just let its MLE go to waste because of what the tax bill would have been. If Wiggs will re-sign at $20 million, maybe $25 max, then yes. Otherwise, a trade to a team with a less brutal tax bill makes sense.
They won’t resign Wiggins and Poole. Kuminga and Moody will take their places.
You might be right but Jordan Poole is such a unique talent. He’s 6-4, can handle the ball, and is fast. Plus he can bomb from outside and as he gets older his percentage will increase I believe.
Warriors need another ball-handler after Curry at the guard spot. Moody is more of a Khris Middleton type and I don’t think is ready to run the show like Poole currently does.
They’ll probably let Wiggins go and Keep Poole for that money and kuminga will start at forward, as suggested in the article.
There is no doubt that they’ll give Poole big money. He goes hard to the basket and draws contact/fouls. Wiggins will not get extended and will likely be gone. Kuminga and Wiseman eventually get big money. Jury not decided on Moody. And I predict at some point Green yearns to play elsewhere. It just seems he’s thinking about it. Hope I’m wrong, but it’s kinda obvious he is what the team can’t afford to lose which drives up his value. He’s smart and I’m sure recognizes that he could make $$$. I hope I’m wrong.
Wiggs and Poole with depend on the price. Both will test the market, I assume, and Lacob will consider the total Tax Bill in making the call. I’d say the odds are that the Dubs re-sign one of the two, but not both.
Roster slots are another issue. A few guys are bound to leave, but the Dubs bench is loaded right now, and they have 3 2022 Draft Picks + rights to Jessup + MLE next year, and Wiggins and Poole both have potential trade value.
I do not think we should be worried about the team in one of the country’s richest cities crying poor and not being able to sign who they really want to.
Its more about the salary cap than feeling sorry for a team.
It is partially too about not having a 600M payroll after the tax.
That is exactly the issue. The Luxury Tax escalates painfully even for a billionaire. Dubs left their MLE on the table this year due to what it would cost to use it. Arguably that’s also why they let Oubre go. I didn’t think he was a great fit, but had they re-signed him, he would have been a tradeable player . . . maybe for depth at the Center position.
At least Wiggins and Poole have a contract for next year. One of them eventually has to go unfortunately. That’s what happens when you have Klay, Curry mega contracts and this is literally the main reason why W’s are holding into 3 rookie contracts. Immediate problem to deal with are GP2, Looney, and Porter who will all want a raise in the offseason.
I think Porter is gone. He’s too good to play for the vet minimum, and the MLE is the best the Dubs could offer. Hopefully we can keep Loon & Young Glove at a cost that Lacob will accept.
We also have 1 FRP, 2 SRPs, and Jessup’s rights for next season. If we don’t trade those, two of them can go to TWCs, but the others will require roster slots.
I would not be surprised if both Wiggins and Poole are dealt in the offseason. Their relative value will be down since they only have one year of control left, but as Michol notes, the downside of the max contracts is that they have to make these balancing act decisions perhaps a year sooner than they may want to. The hard call will be deciding if Poole is worth $20M/year, when they have success in getting players to address a gap created by his departure.
For the money they would free up, they could build an even deeper bench and deal with GP2 and Porter, and decide if Looney’s price tag makes sense. And that’s before we see what they do in the draft.
The Warriors are so far over the cap that trading any player wouldn’t free up any money. They would still be way over the cap and the signings they could make would be mid-level exceptions, vet minimums and two ways which is exactly where they’re at now. The only difference would be the amount of the luxury tax burden.
Correct in the literal sense, but Lacob clearly is limited by his total willingness to spend. If Wiggs’ salary disappeared or was traded for significantly cheaper player(s), Lacob would be more likely to use the MLE, maybe trade UP on some lower salaries, spend to keep Poole, Loon, GPII, et al.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they moved Wiggins on and paid Poole.
Possibly move Klay to SF and Poole at SG. Then have Kuminga and Moody getting more minutes too.
With Wiggins gone the defence will take a hit with Poole basically replacing him but the scoring will be fine. Have to remember Wiseman will also return and Kuminga will get more minutes which helps improve the defence.
Then it’ll be about trying to keep Looney, Otto Porter, GP2 and JTA. All have played good roles this season. GSW will be able to get good vets on the minimum but they will want to keep 3 of the 4 above players.
It’s really a premature conversation. Except for Looney (which is not a big $$ decision), no decisions have to be made for 1.5 years. By that time, the world will likely look very different (two NBA trophies will have been awarded). The personnel decisions they eventually make will presumably be for that world, going forward.
One year really. The 2023 Trade Deadline is the latest we could trade Wiggs or Poole without a S&T. Until then, we have the flexibility to trade them without needing to make any deal with them, only with the receiving team.
I am really shocked Kuminga ain’t a starter by now, Wiggs has kept getting worse since arriving in GSW & Kuminga gets better by the game, JK will be a big star very soon!
???? Wiggins JUST made the all star team and got worse??? Did you replace Marty and WGP as the worst commenter on this app? LOL
Don’t you love El Don Always Wrong. Such wonderful basketball takes. Plus he gives himself the thumb up. Like you said, I guess he wasn’t aware that Andrew Wiggins was voted an All-Star Game STARTER by fans media and coaches.
Agreed. That was a HORRIBLE take. I still see Wiggs as a bit overpaid. As All-Star Starter, he was the last player selected, and his offense is solid, but not the best FIT for the Dubs. To me, it depends on the price. His fit will improve, and he’s a solid, mid-career player, but he’ll be at $33.6 million next year. He has to back of from that.
He reminds me of Deng/Gay. A good player who really never was superstar level. He has peaked out on his ceiling I feel.
Alex I like your posts. You’re new here or just a username change? You a warrior fan or just overall NBA?
Keep them coming it’s going to be a great playoff season and look forward to reading your stuff.
By the way, we’ve been chuckling at El Don Always Wrong for a few years now and he’s “muted” most of us who poke fun at his atrocious basketball takes.