The Golden State Warriors are one of the most pocket-happy teams in NBA history considering the amount they have spent since 2016 to keep their team competing with the best in the NBA and make 6 Finals in 8 seasons,
The Warriors are racking up an enormous wage bill of $346 million in salary and tax this season, something that dwarves most other teams in the NBA. This has allowed them to have four players on massive contracts in Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins.
They also have multiple top-lottery picks on big rookie-scale contracts like James Wiseman, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga. With young star Jordan Poole needing a contract extension this off-season, many league executives are getting upset at the competitive advantage the Warriors get from being able to freely spend and pay astronomical amounts in luxury tax.
“Depending on the team’s appetite for that kind of spending, it could raise uncomfortable questions: Do the Warriors have to choose between [Andrew] Wiggins and [Jordan] Poole?” ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote. “Or even worse: Does the choice become two among Wiggins, [Draymond] Green, and [Klay] Thompson? The Warriors are paying a league-record $346 million in salary and tax this season, and rivals are already grumbling about Golden State’s competitive spending advantage, sources say. (Tens of millions in Golden State money gets spread to those teams via revenue-sharing and payouts to teams who don’t pay the tax.)”
The Warriors have to start thinking about adjusting their roster to shed some salary eventually. Paying all these players massive amounts of money is not sustainable, especially if younger talent needs to come through the team.
All players have been playing up to their salaries, which explains why the Warriors absolutely walked through the Western Conference. Executives were upset in 2021 when luxury tax rules were loosened, which many people thought gave the Warriors an advantage. The question now is how long can they hold this expensive roster together, especially if other teams start bringing this up.
