Are the Warriors Finished Making Free Agency Moves?
The Warriors have certainly not had the busiest free agency period among NBA teams this offseason, but they have made a few moves designed to add a veteran presence to a squad that received some criticism last season for being too young and inexperienced. They started by bringing in capable shooters in Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica. More recently, they brought back Andre Iguodala, a strong defender and ballhandler who proved himself to be both a fan favorite and a vocal leader during his previous tenure in Golden State, which lasted from 2013 to 2019. Although the team missed out on other targets, such as Nicolas Batum and Patty Mills, all three acquisitions appear at least on paper to upgrade the roster.
Between the three free agents, rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, the likely returners and the established players, the Warriors do have a full roster at this point — 15 players on full-scale NBA contracts and two more on two-way deals. Theoretically, they could stop making moves right now and go into the 2021-2022 season as is.
However, there are still a few options that they can explore. The primary one is the taxpayer mid-level exception (TPMLE). The TPMLE is a salary slot worth $5.9 million that teams paying a luxury tax, such as the Warriors, can use to sign one or more players regardless of salary cap status. The Warriors have experience with this exception, having used it to sign DeMarcus Cousins in 2018. Furthermore, there are intriguing players still on the market who might be worth that money. If Bob Myers and the rest of the front office wanted to add ballhandling relief, Dennis Schröder is available. The Warriors have potential backup point guards in Iguodala and Jordan Poole, but the former is aging and the latter is still developing. Though there was speculation that Schröder would receive a large contract this offseason, no such offer has come around yet and he may try to sign a one-year deal for a relatively low figure in hopes of a bigger deal in the 2022 offseason instead. On the other hand, if Golden State chose to look for a big man to come off the bench, Paul Millsap could be worth exploring. His advanced age would limit his impact somewhat, but he has many of the qualities that the Warriors have looked for in veteran bigs, such as leadership ability and good midrange shooting.
Unfortunately, there are two problems with this approach. One is that spending nearly $6 million would send the Warriors’ already high luxury tax bill into another stratosphere. If the team spends the entire TPMLE, it would likely cost them over $45 million and bring their total payout for the roster to more than $400 million. It’s hard to argue that any remaining free agents would be worth taking that much out of Joe Lacob’s wallet.
Furthermore, due to the previously mentioned full roster, signing any player would mean saying goodbye to another — possibly Nico Mannion, but more likely Mychal Mulder or Gary Payton II. This is essentially what happened with the Iguodala signing. The Warriors needed to free up a roster spot to bring him in, and did so by trading Eric Paschall to the Utah Jazz for a future second-round pick.
The other available option for the Warriors would be doing additional deals for the veteran minimum salary, as was done with Porter, Bjelica and Iguodala. These smaller contracts would cost less in luxury tax penalties, and Schröder, Millsap and others could potentially be willing to take less money to play alongside Iguodala, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. But this comes with caveats as well: it would cost the team far more than just the salary due to the tax, and it would once again mean that a player currently on the roster would be traded or waived.
The bottom line of all this? It’s completely plausible that the Warriors still have personnel changes to make — but that’s far riskier than simply staying put, and don’t be surprised if nothing happens. We may be looking at the 2021 Opening Night roster, so get used to it.