the golden state warriors are in a money dilemma this summer. They have four players who will soon need new contracts: Dramond Green, Andrew Wiggins, klay thompson Y jordan poole – and they would have to pay a ridiculous luxury tax if they kept most of them.
Green, the boisterous big man who just claimed his fourth NBA Finals championship trophy with the Warriors since their dynasty began in 2014, is eligible for a new contract starting Aug. 3, and sources said. Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II of the Athletic that Green believes he deserves a max contract that would lock him in for $164.2 million over the next five seasons.
That’s certainly a lot of money for Green, a player who hasn’t averaged more than eight points per game since 2017 and seemed a shadow of his former self at times last season. Slater and Thompson II added that “the Warriors have no plans to offer Green a maximum extension, and there is currently no traction on any type of extension.”
The Warriors’ hesitation with Green’s extension this offseason appears to be due less to the team’s perception of Green’s value and more to the schedule Golden State normally takes with extensions: Slater and Thompson II noted that the Warriors typically wait until that a player has one year left on his current contract before signing him to a maximum extension.
While Green technically he has two years left in the four-year extension he signed before the 2019 seasonyou can opt out of that contract before the final year of that deal before the next season.
That looming possibility could force the Warriors’ hand one way or another.
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If the Warriors aren’t willing to offer Green the max, there’s a chance he’ll explore other options to get the contract he thinks he deserves. it should be noted that Green also has a 15 percent trade kicker. on his current contract if the Warriors move him as well. Golden State also risks pissing off Steph Curry if they decide not to keep Green, according to Slater and Thompson II:
While his desire is to remain with the Warriors, Green is said to be willing to explore his outside options to get the kind of contract he wants. That’s a risk the Warriors’ management seems willing to take. Green playing this season with a chip on his shoulder, motivated by showing the league that he deserves maximum contact, could have a positive impact on the floor.
Perhaps a bigger concern is how the NBA Finals MVP would feel if Green didn’t get an extension. Multiple sources said Curry wouldn’t be happy if the Warriors lost Green because the team didn’t want to pay him. Curry is under contract for four more years and wants Green and Thompson to be with him during his stay. A three-year extension would bring Green’s contract in line with Curry’s.
Curry sees the Big Three as a package deal.
It’s all about the money
Whether or not the Warriors extend Green, it all seems to be about money. If the Warriors found a way to pay Green, Thompson, Wiggins and Poole, the team could spend more than $200 million in luxury taxes by 2024 and $400-500 million in total. Those numbers look untenable for Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
“I’m going to tell you that your numbers are a bit messy”, Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic when that possibility presented itself in early July. “…those numbers are not even remotely possible.
“You know, we put a hole in the system, and it doesn’t look good from a league perspective,” Lacob added. “They don’t want to see it happen. And there are limits. I’m not going to say what they are, but there are limits to what you can do.”
the NBA Fined Lacob $500,000 for calling the luxury tax “very unfair” last week after the Warriors paid more than $170 million in luxury taxes (an NBA record) and $346 million in total payroll last season.
So it seems that even the Warriors wanted to keep all of their extension-eligible players, they wouldn’t want to do so given the nature of the NBA’s salary-cap structure. It is simply a matter of dollars and centers. And if an aging veteran like Green wants top-level money, he could be the odd man out of the Warriors’ original Big Three of Green, Curry and Thompson.