Eyebrows raised across the Bay Area last summer when Joe Lacob, his team fresh off winning a remarkable fourth championship in eight years, drew a line in the sand on the Golden State Warriors' future payroll. On July 8th, the Warriors owner told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic that a potential payroll next season of $400 million or more was “not even remotely possible,” begging the question of how Golden State would shed significant chunks of salary after 2022-23.
Would the team actually consider parting ways with Klay Thompson or Draymond Green? What about trading Jordan Poole? Had Andrew Wiggins really established himself as a Dubs fixture? Why wouldn't Golden State keep its championship core together, shedding salary before 2023-24 by instead moving James Wiseman?
The Warriors already answered two of those questions by inking Poole and Wiggins to long-term extensions. Draymond looks as entrenched with the Dubs as ever, and Thompson is playing his best basketball since returning from two-and-a-half years lost to injury. Wiseman's trajectory is far from certain, but he at least took baby steps toward becoming a positive contributor after being recalled from the G League on December 15th.
Nearing the season's midway point, once-struggling Golden State now 20-19 while awaiting the returns of Steph Curry, Wiggins and more, is Lacob ready to revise his prior comments about a $400 million payroll for next season? He did just that during another recent chat with The Athletic, appealing to the prospect of winning multiple additional rings as justification for the organization operating in the financial red going forward.
“It's not possible without losing quite a bit of money at the bottom line, let's put it that way,” Lacob told Kawakami of a $400 million payroll on the latest episode of the TK Show. “I did say that, and it is from a business perspective an almost insane thing to even consider. But I think we're gonna have to wait and see, because the truth is winning matters, and I wanna win another championship. We wanna win another championship this year, and I'll probably say that at the end of this year, too. Let's see how this season goes. Every week, every month, every game. Anything can happen.”
Shedding approximately $25 million in salary off the books for next season would cut Golden State's projected tax bill to around $100 million, ensuring the team's total payroll would come in well below that $400 million threshold. While Lacob would no doubt prefer to go that route, his suggestion the Warriors wouldn't mar their championship hopes just to lessen the hit on ownership's wallet should be music to Dub Nation's ears.
Lacob made clear the front office would take that same approach to the upcoming trade deadline, reiterating Golden State won't be changing the roster for the sake of financial considerations alone. Any move the Warriors may make before February 9th, it seems, will be in the interest of repeating as champions.
“The trade deadline is coming up. We'll see if there's a way we can improve our team,” he said, “and if we can improve obviously our financial situation for going forward we'd love to do that, but not at the sacrifice of being able to win. We gotta evaluate this in real time, but with a look toward the future as well.”
A lot will happen between early January and the time when Golden State has to make some tough decisions on its roster for 2023-24. What Lacob does in July will be far more telling than anything he's saying right in the thick of an up-and-down season for the Warriors.
Regardless, his public backtracking should ease the premature worries of Dub Nation nonetheless.
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