![]() ![]() “It wasn’t a championship team … this was not a championship group as it stands.” “I definitely think this team maxed out,” Green said after the Warriors were eliminated, echoing a sentiment shared by Curry and Kerr. Should Green stick around, running it back with this core-potentially minus Donte DiVincenzo, who can also opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent-doesn’t make a ton of sense. It would be an unorthodox, mutually beneficial tandem. If Kyrie Irving leaves the Mavericks, Dallas can shed a bit more salary and sell Green on being the missing piece Luka Doncic needs. The Rockets want to win badly, as do Green’s hometown Pistons. If he opts out, an extension is always possible, but short of some monetary cuts elsewhere, it’s hard to see the Warriors paying what some other teams with cap space may be willing to offer. If Green opts in, a brewing divorce will be delayed. Losing him and that priceless institutional knowledge for nothing would irreparably rewire the entire organization’s DNA. Green is 33 years old, a contentious lightning rod of controversy, and still, more nights than not, a transformative defensive presence who holds invaluable offensive synergy with Curry. The weight here will be felt in myriad ways, including with what happens to franchise legend Draymond Green, who can opt in or out of a $27.5 million player option this summer. Cash can’t be sent out in a trade, and any deal that brings in more salary than it sends out won’t be allowed. Doing so not only opens their ownership up to a historic tax bill, but takes important team-building resources off the table. ![]() If you asked me a year ago if we were going to pay Poole and Wiggins this, I would not have believed you.”Īll this was before the details of that especially punitive CBA were revealed, including a new second tax apron that Golden State will easily clear. “I cannot evaluate what we are going to do next season until we see what happens this season,” he said. In October, after extensions for Poole and Andrew Wiggins (four years, $109 million) were announced, Myers was asked about a massive, looming 2023-24 tax bill. Up next are painful, layered questions that have been exacerbated by a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that’s designed to cut a team like Golden State at the knees. And, continuing a trend from the regular season, Golden State was significantly worse with him on the court. Poole would still have market value if he was an unrestricted free agent this summer, but zero teams would even consider a nine-figure deal. To call this a catastrophe would be too kind to the word catastrophe. He wrapped his second postseason up averaging 10.3 points in 21.8 minutes, both a notable drop from last year. Today, Poole’s insufferable freneticism has turned that contract into an anvil, the least prudent decision Warriors general manager Bob Myers has ever made. At the time, that deal was a justifiable bet on an integral 23-year-old who finished his first postseason with nearly 50/40/90 shooting splits. Jordan Poole zoomed out of last year’s Finals with enough velocity to earn a four-year, $123 million contract extension. Gary Payton II made his first start of the season then sat the final 10 minutes, while JaMychal Green went from starting Game 3 to barely playing at all. ![]() In a must-win Game 4 against the Lakers, Steve Kerr didn’t shrink his rotation: he played 10 guys and surprisingly closed with 20-year-old Moses Moody. ![]() Where do the Warriors go from here, as an uninspiring bunch that stunk on the road all year, with humongous contracts, aging future Hall of Famers, and several difficult decisions that need to be made? The roster autopsy is damning. ![]()
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