The Golden State Warriors have made clear they would like to get off some of the onerous money on their books ahead of next season, but getting off the right money is paramount to remaining competitive.
The only real way for the Dubs to accomplish that is via the trade market. Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report on Monday, May 27, authored a proposal that would send Andrew Wiggins back to Canada (his home country) and to the Toronto Raptors. BR also suggested a potential trade of Draymond Green to the Detroit Pistons in the same piece, though that would be far less palatable in the Bay Area for reasons Hughes goes on to explain.
Though ownership has explicitly stated getting out of the tax is a priority, there are ways to do it that don’t involve dealing true core pieces like Green. Andrew Wiggins, for example, is someone the Dubs could ship out without triggering the same kind of “it’s all over” vibes.
Here, the Raptors utilize what could be as much as $28 million in cap space to take on Wiggins, a 29-year-old two-way wing whose value is as low as it’s been in at least four years. Even a diminished version of Wiggins would help Toronto, offering quality defense across four positions, generally reliable three-point shooting and the ability to get looks off against good defenders when plays break down.
That’s a decent get for cap space and, say, a loosely protected second-rounder.
Andrew Wiggins’ Play Has Declined Since Helping Warriors to NBA Title in 2022
Wiggins was a key piece to the Warriors’ title run in 2022 as perhaps the second most important player next to Steph Curry, who won the NBA Finals MVP after Golden State bested the Boston Celtics in six games.
Wiggins’ abilities as a defender and rebounder were of the utmost value to the Dubs when they needed them most, and the forward’s contributions earned him a four-year contract extension worth $109 million. He signed that deal in October 2022, just four months after the Warriors won their last ring, but didn’t play on the first year of it until last season.
Thus, Golden State is committed to three more years of Wiggins at salary cap numbers north of $26 million, $28 million and $30 million, respectively. That’s a tough financial pill to swallow for a team that has spent and spent, only to finish the 2023-24 campaign as the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and bow out of the NBA Play-In Tournament after the first game.
Wiggins has simply played poorly over the last two seasons, including posting career lows in points (13.2 per game) and assists (1.7 per game) last year. He also shot less than 36% from behind the 3-point line, which was his worst mark since 2019-20.
Most of the talk involving a Wiggins deal ahead of last year’s trade deadline suggested the Warriors might need to throw in an asset or two just to get another team to take his contract. In Hughes’ scenario, Golden State gets off of a deal that doesn’t work for the organization and gets a second-round pick back in return — a clear a double-win.
Moving on From Klay Thompson Offers Warriors Another Avenue to Open Cap Space
Beyond a trade of a player under contract, such as Wiggins or Green, the Warriors can head off financial problems in the future by letting a franchise legend walk.
Klay Thompson will be a free agent this summer. Golden State can justify bringing him back at the right price, which is likely to be far less than the more than $43 million he made last season for just 17.9 points per game on 43.2% shooting from the field.
Losing Thompson would potentially be a blow to the morale of both the locker room and the fanbase, but paying him like the All-Star he used to be would probably ultimately be worse.
