3 Massive missteps Golden State Warriors must avoid making this offseason

Giving both Draymond Green and Klay Thompson max contract extensions

Admittedly, I’m not a salary cap strategist. I don’t know the ins and outs of the NBA salary cap, nor do I pretend to. However, if there’s one thing that I do understand is that the Golden State Warriors aren’t in a great salary cap space heading into the future. And there are a couple of big decisions that they have to make regarding two big-name players either this offseason or next.

The Warriors must decide if they’re going to give Draymond Green and Klay Thompson the max contract extensions that they’ll likely be seeking this offseason. Draymond has a player option for next season and can actually test free agency this summer if he wanted and Klay has one guaranteed year remaining on his current deal with the Warriors with no option next season. He will be an outright unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season.

Both will likely have some level of contract negotiations with the Warriors at some point this offseason if they haven’t already begun to take place. Simply put, the Warriors can’t extend both. Not at max numbers. Not if they intend of retooling around Stephen Curry.

While re-signing Draymond and Klay to max deals may help the Warriors win the public relations battle, it will ultimately cost them the championship contention war.