Well, it’s all up in the air.
The Warriors were one of the favorites to win the NBA title at the beginning of the 2022-23 season and for good reason. For one, they’d just come off winning the whole thing last year. Secondly, they had a crop of young talent that seemed ready to take the next step, most notably Jordan Poole, who earned himself a significant payday.
But from the beginning, things have gone sideways.
Now at the All-Star break with a 29-29 record, uncertainty abounds. The Warriors currently sit at ninth in the Western Conference, and have basically played .500 ball all year. They are also without Stephen Curry for what could be a handful more games, and haven’t given any indication that a late run is in the cards this time around.
What’s more, the payroll continues to be outrageous, and will only be more so if the organization decides to keep all the stars around in the years to come.
So what will the Warriors do? Draymond Green has a player option this offseason worth around $27.5 million next season. That will be the first domino. Even if he opts in, they could trade him. Same with Poole and/or Klay Thompson, at least theoretically.
According to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, the next 24 games plus the postseason will determine their course of action.
“Draymond has the first call,” Kawakami began when he joined Tolbert & Copes on Wednesday. “It’s his option. He can leave no matter what they do. A lot of his decision will be based on how things turn out this season. Bob Myers and Joe Lacob are both very clear their decisions are going to be based on how it goes this season. I think if they didn’t win a championship last season, this team would have looked very different.
“We’ll see where things go. If they don’t make the playoffs, or if they’re the ninth seed and they lose in the play-in, all bets are off. There is some rumblings, not from them but around them, there could be some major moves. You look at the finances, they’re not going to go $100, $180, $220 million into the luxury tax, get themselves over $400 million for a team that isn’t very good. They’re not doing that.”
The Warriors shed some dollars by offloading James Wiseman in a trade last week, but also added Gary Payton II’s three-year, $26 million to the books. For Lacob, even if Green wants to return, there won’t be a way to justify the biggest payroll in the league if the team isn’t a championship contender. Well, unless Stephen Curry puts his foot down.
“They could win a postseason series or two and that would change the equation,” Kawakami continued. “I think if things go relatively well, they would be inclined to talk to Draymond about an extension. Not a massive extension and he might not like the dollars that they are offering. I don’t think they are gonna go $70 million for two years. If it’s in the realm of where he’s at — $27.6 I think — whatever that number is, I think they talk about it, because there’s one other large stakeholder in this. He wears No. 30, pretty important guy, and he’s going to want to keep things as together as possible.”
Put simply, the end of the season may determine the futures of both Green and Poole.
It might be Draymond or Poole, or can they afford Draymond and Poole,” Kawakami concluded. “That’s to me the long-term discussion. If they are good enough to get to $400 million, it’s Draymond and Poole. If they’re not, probably a Western Conference Finals-level team, I think it might be Draymond or Poole. And Draymond might just make the decision for them. If Draymond leaves, they absolutely can keep Poole. If Draymond stays, and they’re not very good, there are some tough decisions to make.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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