The Golden State Warriors are a great example of how to build a great roster from scratch by drafting talented players and developing them over the years. When we talk about that, the perfect example of the Warriors following that strategy is the rise of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.
The incredible trio has helped the Warriors win four NBA Championships in the last eight seasons. On top of that, the Warriors have also found some young players who can help them in continuing to win titles in the future. We are talking about the likes of Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman.
The Warriors recently gave a $140 million extension to Poole and a $109 million contract extension to Wiggins. While the Warriors have secured their stars for the foreseeable future, it puts the organization in a tough spot with the amount of luxury tax they will be paying in the future.
The Warriors Players’ Salaries By Adding Luxury Tax Is Simply Insane
The new contracts of Poole and Wiggins will kick in the 2023-24 NBA season. But apart from that, the Warriors already have huge contracts for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green (if he decides to opt into his player option).
Keeping that in mind, the Warriors’ payroll could be around $483 million for the 2023-24 NBA season, combining the luxury tax and salaries.
Golden St. payroll and tax penalty in 2023/24 will likely exceed $500M once the roster is filled.
That factors in Draymond Green opting-in to his $27.6M player option.
With 12 players
💰Salary: $215M
💰Tax: $268M
💰💰Total: $483M
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 15, 2022
As per Spotrac, the Warriors have 12 players who are on a permanent deal with the franchise. Their basic salaries add up to $215 million, as per the above-attached tweets. And the $268 million luxury tax simply means that the Warriors will be roughly paying 124.65% more to each player on the roster for the next season.
Thanks to an NBA fan on Reddit, they have calculated the exact amount of money that the Warriors will have to spend to keep their 12 players on the roster for the 2023-24 NBA season.
- Stephen Curry: $116,629,033
- Klay Thompson: $97,092,975
- Jordan Poole: $70,203,488
- Draymond Green: $61,972,775
- Andrew Wiggins: $54,658,430
- James Wiseman: $27,226,463
- Kevon Looney: $16,848,837
- Jonathan Kuminga: $13,507,915
- Donte DiVincenzo: $10,614,767
- Moses Moody: $8,802,911
- Patrick Baldwin Jr.: $8,802,911
- Ryan Rollins: $3,863,694
It just goes to prove that even homegrown talent can cost a lot of money to an NBA franchise. Hopefully, some new law will be passed in the future to bring this cost to a reasonable amount. Otherwise, teams like the Warriors will be forced to let go of their homegrown talent if they become too expensive.
