The Golden State Warriors are expected to re-sign Klay Thompson. This is my opinion and I firmly believe in it. Many people feel very differently; You may be one of these people. This is not an article intended to convince you to feel differently, although I will probably write that article tomorrow or later this week.
This is just an article intended to be straight-up confirming A little bit of misinformation. I saw Warriors fans hovering as everyone embarked on a six-month quest to try to figure out how to fix the team and get the Dubs back into contention. I’ve heard many fans think the Warriors should move on from Thompson and use that money to buy another top player.
They can’t do that. For better (if you want Klay back) or worse (if you propose such an idea), the Warriors can’t do it. It’s not because the free agent market is lacking, although that is the case. Not that a one-time breakout should prevent free agents from considering them a top destination, although that could happen.
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Because they do the impossibility of not doing it.
Let’s do some quick and simple calculations. Assuming Gary Payton II opts into his $9.13 million contract for 2024-25, the Warriors have eight players under contract for the upcoming season. That means letting free agents – including Thompson – go, letting players with non-guaranteed team options go (Gui Santos and Chris Paul) and not taking guaranteed deals part of Kevon Looney.
The total of these four contracts ? About 134 million USD. Salary cap for upcoming season? $141 million.
As a reminder to the CBA, the Warriors are allowed to exceed the salary cap – as they have done for years now and appear poised to do so this year.
They are not prohibited from going over the limit, they are just fined with a lot of taxes.
But they are prohibited from going over the limit to recruit outside free agents, unless ‘they are at minimum contract If they want to spend big money, it has to come from re-signing their own players – especially those for whom they own the Bird rights. If they want to play dumb and give Thompson $40 million, they can. If they want to restructure Paul’s contract and bring him back at $15 million per year, that’s fine. But what if they wanted to sign Pascal Siakam for just $8 million? No, man.
There are other potential ways to relieve salary cap obligations and free up space. They could restructure Payton’s deal to save a million or two. Theoretically, they could trade Andrew Wiggins or Draymond Green, but the odds are that the team A) has enough space to agree to such a contract, while B) really wants the controversial players. argue, get this high salary and C) don’t .
don’t go out. in return the loss of salary appears to be minimal. And even if they pull off a great trade and, say, Green, they’ll have a tough time trying to convince a top free agent to sign with a team that just finished 10th in the West , and then got rid of Green, Thompson, Paul and Looney, while Steph Curry started the season at age 37.
And oh yes: they still have six spots to fill. It also costs money.
There’s good reason to believe the Warriors would be better served by leaving their boat-loving Bulldog and Splash Brother behind. Maybe you think the Warriors need to start distancing themselves from the dynasty and commit more to young players.
You might think that Thompson, despite putting up better numbers than you thought in 2023-24, is still no longer good. Maybe you want Joe Lacob and the ownership group to avoid as many tax penalties as possible, so they can feel good when Curry and Green’s contracts expire and the next era begins in earnest. This is understandable and reasonable. and reasonable belief.
But do you want the Dubs to part ways with one of their Hall of Famers so they can use the money elsewhere
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