After returning to league highs last season, the Warriors have no plans to give them up anytime soon. However, their leaders will have to face a delicate scenario, which might cost them more than 400 million dollars!
Barely crowned champions, they already found themselves targeted by accusations of cheating from all over the league. The Warriors did not hesitate to take out the checkbook to access the Larry O’Brien trophy, even if it meant displeasing the rival front offices. Questioned by Tim Kawakami on this point a few weeks ago, the owner of the team, Joe Lacob, did not hide his face on his big expenses to keep his star players:
I already have problems with the rest of the league. We are already in a bad position. I’m going to go to the Board of Governors soon, and let me tell you, they’re not happy. (…) We somehow found a flaw in the system, and things are going badly in the league. They don’t want that to happen anymore. (…) We want to continue to win titles, and that means big salaries. That’s what we’ve done in recent years, and what we’ll continue to do this season.
The Warriors’ salty note in the event of overtime
If they succeeded a nice masterstroke worth several tens of millions of dollars this summer, the Dubs will still pay the luxury tax next year. Their bill might even explode within a year, while Draymond Green, Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins will apply for a lucrative extension. According to Bobby Marks’ calculations, it would even exceed $400M if these three players were to stay in the Bay!
REPORT: If the Warriors extend Poole, Wiggins and Green they might become the first team in NBA history to exceed $400M in salary and tax penalties.
(via @BobbyMarks42, https://t.co/kdrPmKXns3) pic.twitter.com/SvWTp3yrHk
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 3, 2022
If the Warriors extend Poole, Wiggins and Green, they might become the first team in NBA history to exceed $400 million in salary and tax penalty expenses.
Admittedly not very financially observant in recent years, the big bosses of Golden State will have a priori difficulty in validating such an amount.
Indeed, despite a new revenue record in recent months, spending such a sum does not seem viable for the franchise. This is also without counting the future extensions of Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and Moses Moody, who should also be accompanied by salary increases. However, letting go of several of its players might have an impact on the level of the roster, and provoke the wrath of a Steph Curry.
Stay competitive with current players and put yourself in the red economically, or accept seeing them leave without being sure of being able to replace them? This is the dilemma that the Warriors will have to solve in the coming months. Good luck to the leaders to decide, and assume behind!
