The Warriors have made re-signed center Kevon Looney their top free agent priority and are expected to meet with his agent, Todd Ramasar, in the early hours of free agency, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Gary Payton II profiles as the Warriors’ second-most important priority but he’ll have other suitors, with the Mavericks expected to be among them, per Slater. Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Lee are the players most vulnerable to losing their roster spots, Slater adds.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- The Timberwolves wound up with two first-round draft picks but it won’t alter their plans for free agency, according to Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. GM Tim Connelly said they’ll be looking for players who can make an immediate impact. “I don’t think it has a huge impact,” Connelly said. “Again, the draft is for the next two, three, four, five, six, seven years.”
- While re-signing Jalen Brunson looms as their top free agent priority, the Mavericks could go shopping for other free agents. Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News looks at some other potential targets, including Gary Harris, Otto Porter Jr. and Goran Dragic.
- By reaching a buyout agreement with John Wall, the Rockets now have 18 players on the roster, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. They’re $30MM below the luxury tax threshold, with Eric Gordon — a prime trade candidate — as the lone player earning more than $10MM.
Re-sign loon. Extend poole. Stand pat with wiggs. Let gp2 walk if his contract and years become too much. Moody can slide into gp2 role. Dubs need to be smart this off season.
GPII was the second best player per min behind Steph last season, and rates wildly higher than Klay/Poole/Wiggins/Dray. He needs to be resigned. If Loon left you could get another big and roll with the kids. You cant replace point of attack/perimeter defense GPII provides anywhere and its super needed in the post season…
Quit liking ur own post…. Pathetic
Not even once hater!
@Champ
GSW has been lucky in that not too many teams press them on their lack of size. IQ matters in defending the rim. Dray has that but he’s not the same guy he was before and has racked up fouls against good bugs. Looney helped hold things together in the post. Without knowing where Wiseman is in his on court development is interior defense where you want to try and save a few dollars?
I tend to agree Knickscavs, and if I’m gsw I’m gonna try my hardest to keep Looney. Can’t just plug in 21 yr old Wiseman, with 40ish career games.. who hasn’t played in over a year.. And expect him to step in and give you what a finals vet like Looney does.
If Loon leaves you have to sign another center out of FA. You cant just run Wise out there of course!
Loon is probably the best center on the market for GSW system, but you could get other guys that would work almost as well on the market. He will be returning on just under 10M I think since GSW have to reward him some for his exploits, but I think he is less valuable to other teams that dont play like, and with the roster of, GSW.
@Knicks
If Loon left and you signed JaVale how much worse are you? I like Loon and think they should resign him for sure, but GPII is not something you can replace on the FA market since no top 5 perimeter defenders are available right now except him…
Loon probably is most valuable as a screen setter. Watch him screen for Steph, and how he hits his angles.
I hope I didn’t sound like sillivan when you read that
GP2 very undervalued. His D solid and we need rim slashers.
Warriors can only pay Payton first year salary at $10.9 million (max 4-year)
5 lottery teams with salary-cap space can offer Gary Payton $60 million contract
Mavs can offer Payton $6 million MLE. Mavs have zero threat.
Like I said it would be stupid for dubs to resign him for that type of money. Regardless if the “vacuum” ignorantly thinks he’s the second best player on the warriors.
@shawn
pretty sure GP2 doesn’t thinks he is the 2nd best player. previous poster was using some advance metric that implied what his true worth was. Curious to see what metric that is he used but that’s a different matter.
His numbers per 100 possessions/net rating, and his box plus/minus are pretty crazy. In a vaccum, he obviously isnt their 2nd best player, but he is an extremely strong fit on this team, as I said before they signed him at the end of last season
Only thing Warriors have going for them is they helped GP2 figure GP2 out. They let him be him. When you learn in a special way maybe you not certain other teams will be as understanding. Don’t forget 7 other teams already took a cracking at this guy. I’ll be pissed if he signs elsewhere. I know we can keep them all.
I don’t think you understand how the luxury tax works. Unlike the regular tax rate, the repeat offender tax rate begins at$2.50/dollar of salary over then increases to $2.75, $3.50 and $4.25 for every additional $5M over the line. After the levied $4.25/dollar of salary over, the NBA charges 50 cents for every additional $5M.
So you cannot just say … sign Gary Payton for $11 million dollars – no problem! He would take home $11 million. The Warriors would be paying something absurd like $70 million in penalties for Payton for that price. It may not matter to the ownership that caters to a wealthy fan base and can get away with charging ridiculous ticket prices. At some point; however, the repeat tax penalties squeeze the ownership into having to make tough decisions. Can they re-sign all of Looney, Porter, Payton, Toscano-Anderson at market rate without their tax bill going out of whack? Not likely. Which is why they probably ink Looney, use a MLE and fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salary players. It’s why you will see Wiseman, Kuminga and Moody all be rotation players next season.
Kuminga is guaranteed a rotation spot, especially with Iguodala, Porter, JTA all up in the air. Wiseman depends on matchups/if they can keep Looney on a big discount again, moody I think is in and out as well, as they likely move on from Lee, probably keep Poole, and Payton up in the air currently. Another reason why Lee is probably gone is they drafted Ryan Rollins, although he might just take a 2 way slot instead
Wiggins, Draymond, Klay, Steph, Poole, Looney (assuming he re-signs), Kuminga, Moody and Wiseman appear to be the rotation players, with the jury still out on whether they can afford to bring back Porter and Payton. I’m sure there are respectable veterans who would sign on a 1 yr minimum to chase a ring if Porter and/or Payton set sail (ex: Dennis Schroder as a contingency to Payton. Thaddeus Young as an alternative to Porter. Etc.) I agree that Lee is definitely gone.
How can Lee and Anderson lose roster spots?
Current Warriors
4 big contracts
4 rookie contracts (Poole …)
4 new Rookies (Rollins …)
4 own free agents
4 new rookies
Justinian Jessup (returns)
Baldwin
Rollins
Santos
4 own free agnets
Looney
Payton
Lee
Anderson
bjelica fa
Santos is being stashed over seas.
I told you last week Jessup is NOT returning this year. Give him one or two more years to develop overseas.
Stop with the Jessup nonsense. Your dream of a Jessup, Mannion, Smailigic new big 3 ain’t going to happen.
Ideally, they dont want to lose either of those guys, or even Porter. Porter is pretty much gone unless he takes a big discount, although it was surprising to me they were able to get him last year, so maybe I’m wrong on that. I feel like Andre Iguodala’s decision has a big impact on Payton and JTA.
Payton was the main player I felt they should add when they needed defense at guard/someone that could play next to Curry (which people tore me apart for), but if he were to leave, they have a couple of options there, although not many, and that also depends on Iguodala b/c they could theoretically grab another playmaking, defensive wing, instead of a guard, and use Iguodala as that guard instead, although that’s maybe not ideal with how many games, and how prominent you need him to be.
Ignoring other potential options with Iguodala, and the Porter situation, these are a couple of the current options at guard, off the top of my head (there might be more I’m not thinking of), in terms of seemingly gettable pieces, if they were to lose Payton
Michael Carter-Williams, Josh Okogie, Kris Dunn, Marcus Garrett, Isaac Bonga, Trent Forrest, David Duke, Elfrid Payton
That being said, there might be a couple of options that dont seem gettable that they could end up getting, like I said w/Porter/other minimum guys that could take less…or it could be completely moot, and Payton just stays lol, which is how I’ve thought it would go down
There are other wing options, like I mentioned in the Iguodala scenario, and a couple of possible Porter replacements as well, but those are just the guards
Payton plays Andre doesnt much, so not sure he has much effect. They need roster spots for the new rookies and maybe one ring chaser.
Belli – gone
Andre – back if he wants to be, but not in the rotation regularly
Lee/JTA – Probably gone although I could see one of the two back, or more if Andre retires and Porter signs elsewhere
Porter – If they are willing to give him the 6.2M MLE returns, or maybe if they offer less since he has made a lot over his career so he could just want to return to a team that will rest him and use him right
GPII/LOON – lock to both return, the team understands that you dont cheap out on your 5 and 7 man in your rotation of a title team it just looks bad
Need one or two roster spots for PBj and Ryan Rollins possibly, although it sounds like he was prepared ahead of time if they need to put him on a 2-way. Rollins though wouldnt have the same 3 year super cheap contract on a 2-way. Also need probably one more for a vet, my guess a stretch big that is better than Belli…
Otto Porter is the player to sign. Looney is very valuable because he understands warriors system and his role, but I believe that they can train whoever come in that role…tell me which pivot has been better after played with warriors? Is not the pivot…is the team. And Payton…smart player that has all the skills and attitude to contribute to keep winning and his defense, dunks and energy is vital when you need a positive reaction in the game.
Porter is a solid player, but will not break a bank to sign him. 2 yr $6m contract with player option for 2nd yr.
If you’re one of the few teams with cap space, would you not offer Porter more? Take Detroit for example. They could use a SF/PF to pair with Saddiq Bey. If they offered Porter something like $10-$12MM per year and a starting role, I would be surprised if he would choose Golden State at 2/$6M.
Thats what people said about Bucks Portis but he went back after winning title. Porter has made plenty money in his career, and he also needs another yr to get healthier and build his value.
Michol you’re right but I think it’s two different cases. What is Portis’ contract with the Bucks? It’s definitely not the minimum.
The warriors are not going to give Otto porter junior more than the minimum.., not a dime more. Kuminga is waiting, Moody is waiting. They’re not gonna sit those two guys again.
Yes cause Gary knows how much the warriors are gonna offer their free agents. Stop with your predictions and takes, they’ve been awful
Can they even give him more? They dont have his Bird rights. I dont think they can give him more than 20% more, but I could be wrong..
B/c otherwise, I think they’d 100% do that. I guess there is also the tax payer mid level, but not sure if that hard caps them/of they’re already over that threshold, and also that deal would cost them like $35 million, and he still likely passes that up for a bigger offer, unless he just takes another big discount
They have the tax payer MLE. If they use some of it to sign Ryan Rollins to a 3 year deal they could still give him 5.5M.
If they give him the full TPMLE it is 6.2M and cant be more than 2 years with the second year salary not more than 6.2M+20%.
I hope Porter takes 2 year minimum with player option. This way he can continue to load manage his playing time, get healthier and stronger, and rebuild his value. He might see it as benefit to return. He knows he cant play back to back games yet and he has tasted postseason highs.
Smacdaddy69, my predictions and takes are perfect. Don’t know what you’re talking about. 100 out of 100 come through.
In fact I’m getting close to reaching Sillivan’s 106 out of 100 predictions coming through perfectly. Something to strive for.
Try to keep up. I see you’re 0 for 0, and kind of missing with your flaming darts too.
I think there are contenders that would give him at least full midlevel over 3-4 years, and several other type contracts, and I could also see someone else offering him something in the $12-14 million range over multiple years as well, especially in this class, and especially with so many teams that could use shooting/defense/playmaking at the 4/3
@Trog
Porter made 100M+ already. He also is a 55-65 GM player at best if you want him healthy. Would he really care about the added money to go play for a rebuilding team just trying to sniff at the play in?
Otto Porter Jr is gone. This was his recreate his value year on a minimum deal on a winning team. He is gone, he did a nice job and the Warriors maximized his efficiency with resting games and putting him in positions to succeed. His strengths are shooting and rebounding. He’ll get excellent offers out there.
The Warriors want Gary Payton back. He was a fantastic ROLE PLAYER for them. I don’t think he’ll get a big money deal out there because he does only one thing, with appendages.
He brings intense energy and premium athleticism and the tentacles of that are awesome defense, huge rebounds at the right time, and lockdown the other team’s best scorer.
It’s nice that he has developed a really good corner three ball, but the reason he won’t get a big contract from another team is because he can’t create offense for himself or others, he has no handles, no vision, and is really offensively-challenged.
When you see him out there being successful it’s because the Warriors coaching staff is amazing. As with Andrew Wiggins, they will put you in the position to be the best you can be.
There are other teams he would fit on, but I dont see him getting more than 5-9 million AAV on 2-3 years, right now. If this was a couple of more years into him doing this, it would be more, but right now, that’s probably what he gets, unless he does a 1 year deal so they get his bird rights after the season
3 yrs for $15m or Warriors could pursuade him to take 2 yr contract with player option for 2nd yr. Warriors dont have to go higher than $15m to sign him. He knows it’s not greener on the other side.
FWIW, here’s the roster for next year Gary.
Curry
Thompson
Green
Wiggins
Looney
Payton
Poole
Kuminga
Wiseman
Moody
Porter
Baldwin
Rollins
Bjelica
Anderson (he’ll take any contract so he can stay home)
Iggy retires and stays with team in coach/management position
Lee stays on to arbitrate Dell Sonya bickering.
Porter is kind of iffy since he might get an offer the Warriors won’t be able to come close to matching. Other than that, barring injury everything else is pretty much a lock.
Andre will return as a player over coach.
Assistant coaches make way less than his vet min, its better for his other business interests if he is an active player next to Steph, and he works better as the coach on the bench rather than attending coaching meetings and stuff.
Belli is gone.
You have 16 players on the roster with your Lee prediction.
One of JTA/Lee will get bumped for a better ring chaser.
The Lee prediction was a joke
I like it Claude. I think it’s spot-on except I think Porter moves on after re-creating his value this year as a shooter. Stayed pretty healthy, did a nice job and someone will offer him a nice contract. Shooters are in short supply. But it’s okay.. Kuminga and Moody will step right in.