The Golden State Warriors are facing a complicated financial issue. Some star players’ contracts are approaching their expiry date. These include Draymond Green, Kyle Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Jordan Poole. Extending their contracts is not realistic for the Warriors.
Green and Thompson both have two years left on their deals, Wiggins has just one, while Pool is on his rookie contract and could negotiate a long-term extension this summer.
If Poole and the Warriors fail to reach an agreement before the October 17 deadline, he will become a restricted free agent next summer. This situation makes Colin Cowherd from The Herd suggest the 23-years old look for other opportunities.
“I’d explore the market if I was Jordan Poole,” Cowherd said. “Steph [Curry] is not going anywhere. He’s taking minutes from you. You go to an Orlando Magic, you got to a Houston Rockets, you can make real money. I don’t think you’ll be as good, but you’ll get more shots. You’ll get more looks.”
Since becoming an important part of the Warriors’ hegemony in the past few years, Poole will be a hot item in the trading market. In 76 games this past season, Poole averaged 18.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while leading the NBA in free-throw percentage with 92.5 percent.
When Curry went onto one of his worst seasons in his career, Poole stepped in in style. He showed a dazzling display as a starter for the final 15 games of the regular season. He logged 25.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per contest in that span.
Cowherd said that the Warriors’ priority was to keep the likes of Curry, Klay, Kuminga, Woody, and Wiseman safe with them.
“You’ll never make the biggest money with Golden State because Steph and Klay are going nowhere, and they’ve got eventually pay [Jonathan] Kuminga and Moses Moody and [James] Wiseman,” he adds. “I think that’s obvious. Check the market out.”
Luxury tax
For the Warriors, paying all those players in the next 12 months would put them into the unforeseen territory after the luxury tax. Last season, they were listed as the team with the largest salary at $362 million. Last month, Warriors owner Joe Lacob told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami that the Warriors’ payroll of $400 or $500 million per season was not feasible.
“Those numbers are not even remotely possible,” Lacob said. “They’re just not. I’m already in trouble with the rest of the league. We are in trouble for being where we are. “
Lacob said that he wanted to see the league’s board discuss the issue more to avoid the other teams’ jealousy of their luxury tax.
“In fact, Vegas, I’ll be at the NBA Board of Governors meeting Tuesday,” he said. “Let me tell you. They’re not happy. It’s not just us. Other teams are going into the luxury tax now as well. We kind of blew a hole in the system and it’s not a good look from the league’s perspective. They don’t want to see it happen.”