The season for the Golden State Warriors has been the roughest they could have dreamed. The Warriors are only one game ahead of the Houston Rockets in 10th place in the Western Conference with a 38-34 record. Owing to their difficulties this year, they might take a different approach and try to rebuild around Stephen Curry in the offseason.
The Warriors will prioritize saving money, and Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz arranged a trade that enables them to do just that. The Atlanta Hawks would receive two second-round picks in 2026 and 2028, Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II, and a 2029 second-round choice from the Warriors in Swartz’s suggested trade. They would only get a 2030 second-round selection in exchange.
Golden State would be positioning itself to have a sizable amount of cap space this summer by getting rid of Wiggins and Payton. Eliminating Wiggins and Payton from the books would free up more than half of the current team budget ($107 million of $206 million), with Klay Thompson set to reach free agency and Chris Paul’s $30 million deal for 2024–25 completely non-guaranteed.
In addition to the $3 million guaranteed in Kevon Looney’s contract, the Warriors would have committed around $101.7 million in compensation to Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Trayce Jackson-Davis for the upcoming season. Given the current $141 million cap projection, the Warriors might unexpectedly emerge as a significant force in free agency.
Even though they can save money in this scenario, the Warriors’ ability to make further trades is diminished by the addition of the picks to the deal. Rather of having to be salary dumped, Wiggins, who was an All-Star in the 2021–2022 season, might receive a higher return.
Plans for the Warriors Offseason
This offseason, the Golden State Warriors must make several important decisions, chief among them being Klay Thompson’s impending free agency. Thompson is averaging the fewest points of his career since the 2012–13 campaign and is shooting a career-worst 38.3% from three-point range.
Because of his lackluster play in recent seasons, Thompson isn’t worth as much money as he once was, but there’s a chance the Warriors will sign him to a less expensive contract and he ends up staying in Golden State.
In an interview with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic for “The TK Show,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob stated that he wants to avoid paying the luxury tax when discussing their offseason plans.
“We would like to be exempt from the tax, and we believe we have a way to do that,” Lacob stated, referring to his Plan 1A.
Not just under the second apron, that’s sort of the plan. I’ll explain why that’s significant since, in actuality, we must remove this repeater item from our records for two of the next four years. We wish to avoid being cliches. Simply put, it’s so expensive. Not that we wouldn’t do it if necessary, but It would basically require the exchange of Wiggins for them to fall below the luxury tax.
Should the Warriors Keep Wiggins
Wiggins was considered one of the best defenders in the NBA during his All-Star season. He was crucial in keeping Jayson Tatum quiet during the NBA Finals, which was the primary factor in the Golden State Warriors’ victory.
After averaging more than 17 points per game in his previous four seasons with the Warriors, Wiggins’ defense has suffered since that season, and he is now only averaging 12.9 points.
Moving him now could help the Warriors next season, as he will be paid $26 million. When you take into account Lacob’s remarks, it appears that the Warriors will ultimately decide to move him.
