Golden State Warriors Salaries
Alright, we’ll split the contracts into two sections, above and below $5 million, let’s start with the above $5 million crowd.
- Monta Ellis – $11 million
- Andris Biedrins – $9 million
- Corey Maggette – $8.94 million
- Stephen Jackson – $7.65 million
- Speedy Claxton – $5.21 million
These five contracts combine to make $41.8 million.
Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins are tied up for the next five years. Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson are on the books for four more seasons. In other words, GSW has a lot of long money on their payroll. Speedy Claxton is an expiring contract.
The rest of the team’s contracts
- Ronny Turiaf – $4.14 million
- Kelenna Azubuike – $3.1 million
- Brandon Wright – $2.67 million
- Acie Law – $2.22 million
- Anthony Randolph – $1.84 million
- Marco Belinelli – $1.55 million
These six contracts combine to cost $15.51 million.
Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike have three and two years respectively left on their contracts, with both player’s final years being player options. The other four are on rookie scale contracts.
The Warriors total is up to $57.32 million for 11 players.
Other costs
- Lottery pick — Stephen Curry comes with a cap hold of $2.26 million.
- Non-guaranteed — Anthony Morrow and Jarameo Davidson for $740k and $825k respectively. Morrow is a certainty to be on their roster. Davidson should be waived but I’m not sure what GSW will do with him, for now let’s assume they waive him.
The Warriors have a minimum payroll of $60.3 million
The Cap + Luxury Tax
The salary cap is expected to be between $56 and $58 million, likely somewhere at or slightly above $57 million.
The figure mentioned for the new luxury tax figure in Stern’s memo at mid-season was $69.4 million.
Warriors vs Cap + Tax
The Warriors are $3 million above the salary cap. So they’ll have the MLE at their disposal this summer.
The Warriors are $9 million below the luxury tax threshold so they can take back contracts comfortably enough.
Final Thoughts
It’s unclear what Golden State will try to accomplish next, and especially in free agency or the trade market. They have considerable room under the luxury tax threshold, so they can spend money this offseason.
mceezy
July 3, 2009
So what exactly are you saying here? The W’s can still sign someone? http://doin-work.com i’m curious
Dave
July 4, 2009
Hey mceezy, welcome to the site!
The Warriors are one of those teams who have no immediate cap defined decisions. They’re not below the cap, so no cap space. They’re not above the luxury tax, so they’re not anxiously trying to cut salary.
The Warriors are $9 million below the luxury tax, so they can take on more salary. Either by spending their MLE or taking back a little extra money contract wise in a trade.
In other words, there’s very little immediate effect on the Warriors because of their cap situation. There are long term issues, but not short term issues.
Side Note
I separated teams into three categories:
(1) Teams below the cap.
(2) Teams with luxury tax issues
(3) Everyone else –teams like the Warriors with no short term cap issues.
The Warriors cap situation over the long term is an issue, but that’s another type of problem. Not enough cap flexibility, too many long term contracts for a team that isn’t in the playoffs.