Warriors Insider Monte Poole caught up with Steph Curry at the American Century Golf Invitational where the four-time champion explained that winning the this year’s title still feels “very surreal.”
The Warriors front office spent the first few weeks of the offseason attempting to retain as much of its championship roster as possible.
It appears that will be the focus heading into next summer, as well.
Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole are both due new contracts. Wiggins is entering the final season of his max contract he inked with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017 and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
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Poole, the No. 28 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, is eligible to sign a rookie-scale extension. If the two parties don't agree on a new deal by Oct. 17, Poole will become a restricted free agent next summer.
"We have time to do those things," Warriors owner Joe Lacob said in an interview with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. "There’s no rush on all that. I’m sure there will be some discussions this summer. But we haven’t talked to them."
Both Poole and Wiggins played crucial roles in Golden State's journey to its fourth championship in the last eight years. Poole went from playing in the G League in 2020-21 to at times carrying the Warriors offense during the regular season, averaging 18.5 points and leading the NBA in free-throw percentage.
Wiggins was arguably the Warriors' second-best player in the NBA Finals, logging 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds over the six-game series while playing lockdown defense against the Boston Celtics.
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"They are two great players in their 20s," Lacob said. "We’d love to retain them. But this becomes the problem going forward when you have a team like ours where you’ve got three guys that have been with us for a long time, make a lot of money, huge salaries -- Steph, Klay and Draymond. You’ve got these two guys who will be getting into – well, [Wiggins] already is in big salary mode and wants to stay there. And [Poole] is going to be clearly making a lot more money.
Keeping both Wiggins and Poole in the Bay will be a challenge for the Warriors, who owned the league's most expensive roster last season and are living in the luxury tax. It was the reason Golden State couldn't match the Portland Trail Blazers' offer for Gary Payton II or bring back Otto Porter Jr.
"It's going to be difficult," Lacob said. "I’m not going to sit here and lie to the fan base. It’s going to be really difficult to figure out what we’ll do next summer. This year, we’re good. I would call this as running it back. Some people may think because Payton and a couple people are not back -- there’s always going to be some change. Yesterday is yesterday, the future is the future. We think we’re going to have a great team this year.
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"Next summer, we’re going to be faced with more issues with respect to the cap and luxury tax and all that," Lacob continued. "We’ll just to have to see how this goes. It’s sort of a year-to-year thing. Let’s see how everybody plays. Let’s see if we are contending again, which we think we will. Let’s see if we’re going to win again. That certainly extends what we’re able to do. If we don’t, we have to sort of rethink things a little bit."
Nothing has been discussed yet, but Dub Nation certainly is hoping the Warriors dig deep into their pockets and keep Wiggins and Poole in the Bay for years to come.