After the postseason, the Golden State Warriors will have to get down to numbers and once again decide who to keep and who to part ways with. Besides the obvious attempts to get Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant on long-term payroll, the Warriors will also look to secure their sixth man and 2015 Finals MVP, Andre Iguodala.
The key to keeping players on board will be largely based around Durant and his willingness to take a small raise in his contract, rather than a full-fledged one.
Given that Curry gave the Warriors a famed hometown discount, signing a four-year, $44 million contract back in 2013 — he likely won't be asked to take a pay cut.
The reigning MVP will be eligible to receive the “super-max” contract under the new CBA, netting roughly $210 million for the next five years, offering in the neighborhood of $75 million more than any other NBA franchise could.
If Durant chooses to seek a max of $36 million for 2017-18, things could definitely complicate, but if he could just take a 20 percent bump from his $26.5 million salary ($31.8 million), there could be enough room to get Iguodala and Shaun Livingston back in blue and gold, per Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News.
This would allow the Warriors to keep Iguodala's Bird Rights; and according to a league source, the only imminent impasse would be the number of years — which he and team president Bob Myers would have to sit down and work out during the offseason.
“The people that need to know, they know the situation, and there’s not going to be any issue,” Iguodala told Kawakami on his podcast earlier this month.
Would this assure his return next season?
“I didn’t say that,” Iguodala continued. “But Bob and I have conversations all the time about different scenarios and different things, not just about me, but about the rest of the team.”
“So I don’t see it being a big problem at all. And here right now will probably be the best place.”
These are encouraging words coming from one of the team's most electrifying spark plugs — but as always, it'll come down to numbers and how willing players are to make sacrifices in order to retain a winning roster.
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