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Since the day that Joe Lacob bought the Golden State Warriors, there’s been a running discussion about the team’s finances. It didn’t take long with Lacob and Co. at the helm before the Dubs started shelling out money to try and build the best team possible.
When an unprecedented cap spike allowed the team to sign Kevin Durant in free agency — while keeping Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson under contract — the Warriors started to flirt with salary cap expenses the likes of which the league had never seen.
As a fan, an owner willing to spend money to win championships is exactly what you want. But it can make for frustrating offseasons, as the Warriors often don’t have the requisite cap space to make summer moves.
It can also be confusing, as cap space figures aren’t always easy to find and keep track of.
That’s what this article is for. Below is a table with all of the team’s salary commitments for this year and future years. It, and the rest of this article, will update as the team’s contracts do.
Table and data courtesy of the fine folks at Basketball Reference.
| Salary | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Age | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | Signed Using | Guaranteed |
| Stephen Curry | 33 | $45,780,966 | $48,070,014 | $51,915,615 | $55,761,216 | $59,606,817 | Bird Rights | $261,134,628 | |
| Klay Thompson | 31 | $37,980,720 | $40,600,080 | $43,219,440 | Bird Rights | $121,800,240 | |||
| Andrew Wiggins | 26 | $31,579,390 | $33,616,770 | 1st Round Pick | $65,196,160 | ||||
| Draymond Green | 31 | $24,026,712 | $25,806,469 | $27,586,225 | Bird Rights | $49,833,181 | |||
| James Wiseman | 20 | $9,166,800 | $9,603,360 | $12,119,440 | 1st Round Pick | $18,770,160 | |||
| Jonathan Kuminga | 19 | $5,466,360 | $5,739,960 | $6,012,720 | $7,636,154 | 1st Round Pick | $11,206,320 | ||
| Kevon Looney | 25 | $5,178,572 | Bird Rights | $5,178,572 | |||||
| Moses Moody | 19 | $3,562,080 | $3,740,160 | $3,918,480 | $5,803,269 | 1st Round Pick | $7,302,240 | ||
| Andre Iguodala | 37 | $2,641,691 | Minimum Salary | $2,641,691 | |||||
| Otto Porter Jr. | 28 | $2,389,641 | Minimum Salary | $2,389,641 | |||||
| Jordan Poole | 22 | $2,161,440 | $3,901,399 | 1st Round Pick | $6,062,839 | ||||
| Nemanja Bjelica | 33 | $2,089,448 | Minimum Salary | $2,089,448 | |||||
| Gary Payton II | 29 | $1,939,350 | Minimum Salary | $350,000 | |||||
| Damion Lee | 29 | $1,910,860 | MLE | ||||||
| Juan Toscano-Anderson | 28 | $1,701,593 | Minimum Salary | $1,701,593 | |||||
| Quinndary Weatherspoon | 25 | $95,930 | Minimum Salary | $95,930 | |||||
| Chris Chiozza | 26 | Two-Way Contract | |||||||
| Jeff Dowtin | 24 | Two-Way Contract | |||||||
| Shaun Livingston | 36 | $666,666 | $666,666 | ||||||
| Team Totals | $178,338,219 | $171,078,212 | $144,771,920 | $69,200,639 | $59,606,817 | $556,419,309 | |||
The general takeaway here is that the Warriors owe a lot of money over the next few years, and thus will have to rely on trades if they want to make any big moves.
But let’s dig into a few other elements of their cap space.
Options
Due to the nature of rookie contracts, the Warriors currently have three players who have team options coming up. James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody all have team options for the 2023-24 season, with Kuminga and Moody also having team options for 2024-25. In other words, the Warriors can bring those players back in those years for the price seen on the table — or they can let them enter free agency and be off the hook for the finances.
Wiseman and Jordan Poole also have team options for 2022-23, but those options have already been exercised.
Only one player on the Warriors has a player option: Draymond Green, who can opt in or out of the final year of his contract.
The Wiggins conundrum
Assuming Green exercises his option, the Warriors will owe more than $122 million to Green, Thompson, and Curry in the 2023-24 season. That also happens to be the first season following Andrew Wiggins’ free agency.
In other words, the Warriors won’t have any cap space to replace Wiggins, at least not immediately. With Wiggins’ Bird rights, they’ll be able to go above the salary cap to retain, but not to replace him. They’ll have to decide whether it’s worth paying him his market value — plus an exorbitant tax hit — or move forward without the ability to sign another big name in his spot.
Steph Curry, forever Warrior
Lest we forget, Curry is under contract through 2025-26. That will be his age-37 season, and his 17th year in the NBA.
Hopefully it’s not his final season, but he’ll be getting close. It’s comforting to know that he’s unlikely to ever wear another team’s jersey.
Make sure to bookmark this article, as we’ll keep it updated as the Warriors future salary commitments change.
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