The Golden State Warriors have been known for paying an extreme amount of luxury taxes in the league over the last several seasons. It is not cheap to field a roster highlighted by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but winning championships makes footing this bill a lot easier for owner Joe Lacob.
Not many teams can say they have won four championships in an eight-season span, yet this is exactly what the Warriors did when they took down the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. Losing in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State has been making moves this offseason to try and capitalize on the championship window their three stars keep open.
Curry is under contract through the 2025-26 season and Green is under contract through the 2026-27 season after inking a four-year, $100 million contract this summer. As for Thompson, he is set to make $43.2 million this upcoming season before he is set to hit free agency in 2024.
Whether or not the Warriors will offer him a new, long-term extension is a key topic of discussion surrounding this franchise and Lacob recently gave some insight as to where things stand. Talking with The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show,” Golden State's owner made it clear that he expects Klay to remain in a Warriors uniform indefinitely.
“I do,” Lacob firmly stated when asked if he expects Thompson to return to the Warriors. “Look, we've had some very brief discussions at this point with his agent, but they're very, very early. I think we're all still adjusting to figuring out what our financial situation is, our cap space situation.”
After acquiring Chris Paul this offseason, Golden State will have a little bit more flexibility than imagined entering next summer, especially since they can waive the veteran point guard with no cap penalty. It is also possible that they could re-work some other player's contracts in order to find a number that works best for them and Klay.
“They're going to, from the players' side, logically have to attest to what the free agent market might be because they've earned the right to be free agents if they've played out their contracts,” Lacob continued. “And they have to look and see what options they might have. So I think there's a little bit of that going on at this point, but I fully expect we will have some substantial discussions soon. And we'll see if we can put something together that allows Klay to be here for a long time, which we clearly would like him to be”
Whether or not the Warriors will come to an agreement on a new deal with Thompson before training camp begins is the key question, as Klay's pending free agency would loom large over the organization during the regular season. Similar to how Green approached his contract situation this past year, it is possible that Klay could become an unrestricted free agent in order to get a better idea of what his market looks like.
In 10 seasons with the Warriors, Klay Thompson has averaged 19.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 41.6 percent from three-point range. He currently ranks 18th in career three-point percentage and 11th on the NBA's all-time three-pointers made list.
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