Warriors To Make Significant Changes This Offseason?
The Warriors brought Northern California yet another parade, celebrating their third championship over the last four seasons. Despite the nearly unprecedented success, the team will continue to evolve and coach Steve Kerr said there may be significant changes to the team’s roster.
“We had a lot of vets this year. I think you’ll see more youth and energy to help us get through all that,” Kerr told ESPN’s Zach Lowe on the scribe’s podcast. “We’re going to have to be very creative and we going to have pace ourselves again and hopefully everything comes together in the playoffs, but you never know.”
Several of the team’s veterans are set to become free agents and it sounds like Kerr is preparing to lose a number of them. Zaza Pachulia, who made roughly $3.47MM this past season, will hit the market. David West (approximately $1.47MM) may retire. Nick Young (slightly over $5.19MM) signed a one-year contract last offseason and will look for work yet again this summer.
If Golden State is going to hand out anything over the minimum, it will have significant financial ramifications on the club. NBA teams trigger the repeater tax penalties if it pays the luxury tax in a given season and has paid it in three of the previous four years. The franchise paid the luxury tax during the 2015/16 campaign as well as this past season. If the Warriors finish next season above the luxury tax line, they’ll face the harsher parameters on their payments.
Those fiercer penalties are as follows:
- $0-5MM above tax line: $2.50 per dollar (up to $12.5MM).
- $5-10MM above tax line: $2.75 per dollar (up to $13.75MM).
- $10-15MM above tax line: $3.50 per dollar (up to $17.5MM).
- $15-20MM above tax line: $4.25 per dollar (up to $21.25MM).
- For every additional $5MM above tax line beyond $20MM, rates increase by $0.50 per dollar (ie. $4.75 for $20-25MM, $5.25 for $25-30MM, etc.).
The Warriors already have roughly $103MM in guaranteed salary on the books for next season and that’s before Kevin Durant gets whatever contract he wants. Not to mention Golden State plans to talk extensions with both Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
The luxury tax line is projected to come in at $121MM and while the team isn’t going to be frivolous with its top players, it may be more prudent with its fringe rotation players, as it will almost certainly be a luxury tax payer in the summer of 2019 and possibly beyond. It would be surprising if the team brings back Young at or near his current salary given his production and the franchise’s luxury tax repeater status.
The USC product sported a 3.1 player efficiency rating during this year’s playoffs. Of the 158 players who played at least 6.0 minutes per game this postseason, only four had a worse mark than Young. He saw a total of 205 minutes, though much of his court time came with the team ahead and the game nearly out of reach.
The Warriors found production on cheap deals in Jordan Bell and Quinn Cook this season, and it appears they will look to replicate that success by searching for young, affordable talent to fill out the roster behind Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and their four All-Stars.
Draymond Green Unlikely To Sign Extension This Summer
Draymond Green will be eligible for a veteran contract extension this summer, and Warriors owner Joe Lacob recently said the team plans to offer one. However, league sources tell ESPN’s Chris Haynes that Green figures to turn down that extension when it’s offered.
The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement limits veteran extensions to five total seasons, so with two years and $36MM+ still remaining on his current deal, Green could add three more years to that deal this offseason. Based on other CBA limitations, such an extension would be worth up to about $72MM over those three years. However, as Haynes observes, if the veteran forward earns All-NBA honors or the Defensive Player of the Year award next season, he’d be eligible for a super-max extension worth well over $200MM for five years.
With Curry already on a super-max deal for the Warriors and Kevin Durant likely to ink a lucrative new contract of his own this summer, it seems unlikely that the team would be willing to give Green a super-max of his own if he qualifies next year. Still, there’s some context to Green’s apparent stance, as Haynes explains.
As Green tells it, when he negotiated his last contract with the Warriors in 2015, he accepted about $12MM less than he could have earned. While agent B.J. Armstrong pushed for him to max out his potential earnings, Green wanted to take a slight discount in order to help Golden State create the cap room a star free agent like Durant.
“I took less so we could go after K.D.,” Green told Haynes during the NBA Finals. “I am a student of this game, and I studied the business side of it and the numbers, where some people don’t. They leave it up to their agent to do it.”
Having made that sacrifice on his last deal, Green is unlikely to accept any sort of discount on his next contract, sources tell Haynes. Even though that next contract may not be a super-max, Green seems likely to continue playing out his current deal for another year before seriously considering an extension.
Myers: Warriors Will Give Durant ‘Whatever He Wants’ On New Deal
Kevin Durant indicated several days ago that he fully intends to re-sign with the Warriors after opting out of his contract this summer, and it doesn’t sound like president of basketball operations Bob Myers will draw any sort of hard line in negotiations. As Janie McCauley of The Associated Press relays, Myers said the team is prepared to give Durant “whatever he wants.”
“Sometimes you don’t negotiate. I’d love to have him for 10 years. Kevin Durant, look what he did for us last year, he did us a great service,” Myers said. “He’s earned the right to sign whatever deal he wants. I just want him to sign a deal. But want him to be happy and want him to know that we want him as long as he wants to be here. He’s earned that, to kind of lay out the terms. He can do whatever he wants. That shouldn’t be a long negotiation.”
In each of the last two summers, Durant has signed a two-year contract with a second-year player option in order to maximize his flexibility. However, the Early Bird exception prohibits that sort of deal. If the Warriors re-sign the star forward using his Early Bird rights, the contract would have to be for at least two years (with no options) and couldn’t exceed four years.
Durant could still sign a one-year pact with an eye toward hitting free agency again in 2019, when he’ll have full Bird rights and could sign a five-year contract. But a one-year deal this year would use the Non-Bird exception and wouldn’t allow him to earn his full max, since he accepted a discount last summer. As such, Durant will have some decisions to make this offseason, and it sounds like the Warriors are ready to accommodate whatever path he chooses.
Meanwhile, the Warriors have a few other extension candidates to keep an eye on this summer, including Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and head coach Steve Kerr. For his part, Kerr said he expects to get a new agreement “done pretty quick,” suggesting that wouldn’t be an acrimonious negotiation either. As for Thompson and Green, Myers agreed with team owner Joe Lacob that the team will explore new deals for those stars this offseason, but suggested that won’t necessarily be a top priority.
“It’s a lot of different conversations that have to take place and if that’s something that we want to look into, I’m sure we could have those (conversations),” Myers said. “Klay’s got another year, Draymond’s got two more. Kevin’s really the free agent we have to focus on.”
Draft Workouts: Brown, Lakers, Grizzlies, Alkins
Oregon shooting guard Troy Brown worked out for the Spurs on Sunday, Michael Scotto of The Athletic tweets. The Spurs hold the No. 18 pick and Brown is ranked No. 19 by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Brown then worked out for the Wizards Monday and is headed to Milwaukee for an evaluation by the Bucks, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. Washington owns the No. 15 selection with the Bucks at No. 17.
We have plenty of other workouts to pass along:
- The Lakers will work out Abdul-Malik Abu (North Carolina State), Trevon Bluiett (Xavier), Kameron Chatman (Detroit), Manu Lecomte (Baylor), Marcus Lee (Cal) and Matt Mobley (St. Bonaventure) on Tuesday, the team’s PR department tweets. Seton Hall big man Angel Delgado will get a second look from the Lakers on Tuesday, Adam Zagoria of the New York Times tweets.
- The Grizzlies will bring in six second-round prospects on Tuesday, according to a team press release. That group includes A.J. Davis (UCF), Wenyen Gabriel (Kentucky), Brandon Goodwin (Florida Gulf Coast), Devonte’ Graham (Kansas), Terry Larrier (Connecticut) and Ray Spalding (Louisville). Memphis held a workout with projected lottery pick Wendell Carter Jr. on Monday, Chris Herrington tweets. Carter is ranked No. 6 by Givony; the Grizzlies have the No. 4 pick.
- Arizona guard Rawle Alkins will be evaluated by the Warriors on Tuesday, according to another Zagoria tweet.
- Swingman Todd Withers (Queens) has worked out for the Thunder, Nets and Hornets, according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer.
- Zhaire Smith will work out for the Sixers and Suns after visiting the Wizards on Monday, Chase Hughes of NBCSWashington tweets. The Texas Tech forward is ranked No. 16 overall by Givony.
Durant Says He Could Envision Retiring At 35
While veterans like Vince Carter, Manu Ginobili, and Jason Terry continue their NBA careers into their 40s, Kevin Durant doesn’t sound like he’s planning to play quite that long. Speaking to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, Durant said that he can envision himself deciding to retire at age 35.
“This game, your craft, you have to continue studying it,” Durant said. “No matter how much you enjoy it, nobody wants to be in school that long. I know I don’t. At some point, you have to be ready to graduate. Thirty-five, that’s just a number in my mind.”
Durant, who will turn 30 in September, just won his second consecutive NBA Finals MVP and has established himself as one of the top two or three players in the league. While his raw scoring numbers have dipped a little since he arrived in Golden State, Durant has been more efficient than ever with the Warriors, with a shooting line of .525/.400/.882, and has evolved into an excellent defender.
Given Durant’s dominance, it’s hard to imagine he’d opt for retirement in just five or six years. Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman tells Haynes that the former MVP has talked to him in the past about potentially retiring at age 35, but Kleiman is skeptical.
“I heard him say that, but I’ll believe it when it happens,” Kleiman said.
When Durant does eventually move into the next stage of his career, he’s expected to remain involved in basketball. The star forward has previously talked about his desire to own an NBA team, but admits to Haynes that his post-playing career could take a different direction.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Durant said. “That’s the beauty. I’d hate to say, ‘Man, I don’t want to do this, do that’ when I’m done playing. I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m going to still be in love with the game and want to be around it every day. Who knows? I might want to be a coach or a GM or an owner or somebody that works guys out or somebody that’s trying to tell basketball stories like Kobe [Bryant]. Who knows?
“I feel like I have options,” Durant continued. “I’m young, I’m still learning life and about basketball. I have a whole life ahead of me that I’m excited about, and I thank basketball for opening up so many doors for me.”
Warriors Notes: Pachulia, West, Young, Roster
Despite the success of the current group, the Warriors are expected to undergo some roster changes this offseason, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Those changes figure to be made more around the edges of the roster, rather than to the core, but the club has seven players eligible for free agency — of those players, only Kevin Durant is a lock to return.
According to Slater, it’s virtually a “sure thing” that Zaza Pachulia and David West will be gone, perhaps to retirement. It would also be a “stunner” if Nick Young returns, says Slater. As for their roster makeup, the Warriors almost certainly won’t carry as many centers next season, preferring to add a little more depth on the wing.
Here’s more out of Golden State:
- Tim Kawakami of The Athletic also examines the Warriors’ 2018/19 roster options, identifying several possible free agent targets and noting that the team would like its first-round draft choice (No. 28 overall) to immediately vie for a rotation spot.
- As Kawakami writes in a separate piece for The Athletic, the Warriors continue to keep an eye on the NBA’s very best players as potential targets, like they did with Durant prior to the summer of 2016. For now, that means they’ll monitor Anthony Davis, who will be eligible for a new deal in 2020. However, that’s very much on the back burner, with Golden State focusing on keeping its current core intact.
- According to Kawakami, the Warriors grossed approximately $130MM in 11 home playoff games this year. Slightly lengthier series this spring resulted in an estimate significantly larger than in 2017, when the team grossed about $95MM in eight postseason contests.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) takes an in-depth look at the Warriors’ roster decisions this offseason, including Durant’s possible contract scenarios, possible free agent deals for Kevon Looney and Patrick McCaw, and what to do with the taxpayer mid-level exception.
And-Ones: Superteams, Cook, Williams
With the 2018 NBA Finals now officially wrapped, the offseason has begun. Now, Ken Berger of Bleacher Report writes, players and teams around the league will waste no time scraping away for ways to conquer one of the sport’s greatest rosters. One of those options? Find a way to form an even more powerful superteam.
Berger writes about the rise of the modern superteam era, one that he says traces back over a decade to when the Celtics brought All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen aboard to team up with Paul Pierce and win a title. A feeling of futility matched up against those Hall of Famers, Cavaliers forward LeBron James says, contributed to his decision to in turn team up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade with the Heat.
More recently, it was what Berger calls a flaw in the salary cap system that allowed the Warriors to add Kevin Durant mere months after setting the all-time record for regular season wins. A boost in broadcasting revenue after the 2011 lockout precipitated a massive spike in the salary cap.
At the time, Berger writes, league commissioner Adam Silver pushed to spread the increase out over several seasons but the player’s union fought to keep the increase in one lump sum. The result? A $24MM salary cap increase that allowed the Warriors to sign a fourth superstar without giving up any major roster pieces.
There’s more from around the league:
- Former Heat swingman Daequan Cook has signed an extension to return to Ironi Ness Ziona in Israel, international basketball reporter David Pick tweets. Cook last saw NBA action in 2012/13.
- Though it’s only been seven years since he was drafted with the No. 2 pick, Derrick Williams has seen the NBA landscape around him do an about-face with regard to how it values the hybridization of player positions. Keith Langlois of Detroit’s official team site writes about how the journeyman forward auditioning for the Pistons is hoping that being a “tweener” can help him land another gig in the league.
- Legendary hoops analyst Hubie Brown suffered a knee injury prior to Game 4 of the NBA Finals and wasn’t able to broadcast over the radio, an ESPN report says. There’s no indication that the 84-year-old’s injury was self-inflicted after letting his emotions get the best of him.
Warriors Notes: NBA Title, McCaw, Cook, Draft
Despite outside appearances, the Warriors didn’t have an easy time collecting their third NBA championship in four years, writes Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. Spears outlines injuries, complacency and other issues that affected Golden State during its title run and sheds more light on comments made by David West, who said after Game 4, “There were some things internally. … It’s a testament to the type of people these guys are, how tied we were as a group and then we were able to win it.”
Four key players, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Patrick McCaw and Andre Iguodala, had to overcome injuries at some point in the postseason, and Draymond Green said the team’s fragile physical condition provided incentive to sweep the Finals before anyone else got hurt. Spears notes that the team also had to deal with the distractions of a dispute with President Trump, a pre-season trip to China and focus issues that resulted in the league’s third-best record despite a wealth of talent.
“Maybe it looked easy to you, but it was hard,” GM Bob Myers said. “… We had never been a two seed. We had to win a Game 7 on the road. We had some injuries. Just the wear and tear of trying to do it four [straight] times in the Finals. But they stepped up at the end. The players got it done. It was a credit to them.”
There’s more Warriors news to pass along:
- This year’s championship was especially meaningful to McCaw and Quinn Cook, who were both in tears after Friday’s victory, Spears adds. There were concerns that McCaw might not walk again after a violent fall in a March 31 game that resulted in a lumbar spinal contusion. McCaw vowed to return and made it back for Game 6 of the conference semifinals. Cook, who was waived by the Hawks in training camp, signed a two-way contract with the Warriors and earned a full NBA deal just before the playoffs.
- Golden State isn’t concerned about keeping its core together, but the team would like to add some younger players during the offseason, relays Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “We just have to be always moving forward to try to improve our team,” owner Joe Lacob said. “So I actually think this draft is a very important one for us. We need to get some youth on the team going forward. So we’re paying significant attention to it, and I am, too. Probably more than any other year.
- The Warriors were able to build an elite roster because players were willing to accept less than their market value, notes Scott Stinson of The National Post. Curry had a team-friendly contract for years before his latest extension, and Kevin Durant played for $25MM this season.
Warriors Plan Extension Offers For Thompson, Green
There have been concerns about the Warriors’ ability to afford Klay Thompson and Draymond Green when their free agency years arrive, but owner Joe Lacob plans to aggressively address the situation this summer, relays Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Shortly after wrapping up the team’s third title in four years Friday night, Lacob said he intends to submit extension offers to both players during the offseason.
“All good things cost a lot,” he explained. “We’re going to try to sign Klay and Draymond to extensions this summer. They’ve earned the right to do whatever they want; maybe they want to wait until free agency. I can’t control that. But we’ll do whatever we can to keep them.
“We’ve proven that if we think we’re competing for a championship, we’ll be in the luxury tax. No one wants to be, but we expect to be. All I can tell you is we’re going to sit down and do our planning on how we’re going to improve the team for the future and setting ourselves up in the future. And it could go a number of different ways.”
Thompson is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $18,988,725 next season. He has spent seven years with the Warriors and is coming off his fourth straight All-Star appearance. Green has two seasons left on his current deal, worth $17,469,565 next season and $18,539,130 in 2019/20. He has been with Golden State for six years and is a three-time All-Star.
Extensions for Thompson and Green would come at the same time the Warriors have to spend big to re-sign Kevin Durant, who is virtually certain to opt out of a $26.25MM salary and enter free agency for the third straight summer. If all three players agree to new contracts, the Warriors would likely be headed for the largest luxury tax bill in NBA history.
Latest On LeBron James
LeBron James would still like to finish his career in Cleveland, but the events of the past year have him wondering if he can ever win another title there, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
A second straight lopsided Finals is only part of the picture, Windhorst notes, as the past 12 months have seen the loss of GM David Griffin, the trade of Kyrie Irving, a health scare for coach Tyronn Lue and two extreme roster makeovers. Mental mistakes from teammates in the Finals, highlighted by J.R. Smith‘s error at the end of Game 1, led to James wonder this week, “How do you put together a group of talent but also a group of minds to be able to compete” with the Warriors.
Cleveland enters this summer with no cap room and a once-promising draft pick that landed in the middle of the lottery. The Celtics and Sixers both took huge steps forward this season and appear to be the powers in the Eastern Conference for years to come, presenting a significant obstacle for James to ever reach the Finals again if he stays in Cleveland.
On top of that, Windhorst notes, there’s a trust issue with owner Dan Gilbert and a limited relationship with GM Koby Altman, who is barley older than James. In theory, the Cavs have the advantage of being able to offer a longer and richer contract than anyone else — five years at more than $200MM. However, James hasn’t inked a deal longer than two years since returning to Cleveland and seems to prefer the power he holds with short-term arrangements.
There’s more on LeBron as free agent speculation heats up:
- Expect the Cavaliers to see what they can get for a package of Kevin Love and the No. 8 pick in an attempt to convince James to stay, reports ESPN’s Zach Lowe. The team passed on chances to deal Love at close to maximum value and will have a hard time obtaining even half of that at this point, Lowe adds.
- Matt Goul of Cleveland.com is running through several potential scenarios involving James and the team’s future. His first story involves James staying in Cleveland and the Cavs trying to improve by drafting a starter at No. 8 and adding a free agent with their $5.4MM mid-level exception. Goul identifies several unrestricted free agents 30 or younger who may be available at that price: Celtics center Greg Monroe, Nets center Jahlil Okafor, Suns center Alex Len, Mavericks center Nerlens Noel, Nuggets guard Will Barton and Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans.
- Frank Urbina of Hoops Hype examines eight potential free agent destinations for James: the Clippers, Heat, Spurs, Warriors, Rockets, Lakers, Sixers and Celtics, as well as a potential future with the Cavaliers.