© Kyle Terada | 2018 Jun 3
Yesterday Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was asked if the “economics of the game” would mean this is Golden State’s last season with their core group. His answer was simple.
“No.”
That’s good, because it’s increasingly looking like the Warriors are going to have to break the bank this summer. According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, Klay Thompson, who is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, will try to negotiate for a max deal.
“Thompson has no plans to take a discount, and the Warriors don’t expect him to, league sources say.”
Here’s what this means: If Thompson makes one of the three All-NBA teams this season, he’ll be eligible for a supermax deal worth around $221 million for the next five years. If he doesn’t make an All-NBA team, that number will be closer to $190 million, which is $90 million more than he’d make if he signed an extension right now. That’s expensive enough, but the Warriors will also likely be in the process of negotiating a new deal for Kevin Durant, while Draymond Green could also be up for a supermax extension of his own before becoming a free agent in 2020.
Additionally, the Warriors luxury tax payments are due to increase, as they will become members of the “repeater tax.”
All reports indicate that owner Joe Lacob is willing to foot that bill, but it’ll be interesting to see if that changes when it’s time to actually put money on the table.