The Warriors have until June 28 to guarantee Chris Paul’s $30 million salary for the 2024-25 NBA season. If the Warriors waive both Paul and Kevon Looney ($8 million contract, $3 million guaranteed), they would enter July’s free agency period with $137 million in committed salaries.
In other words, Golden State would be $34 million below the luxury tax and $54 million under the second apron, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. By doing so, the Warriors would accomplish the goal set forth by their governor, Joe Lacob, who previously stressed the team’s No. 1 priority was to shed their mounting luxury tax bill.
“Our Plan 1 or 1A is that we’d like to be out of the tax,” Lacob told “The TK Show” on February 14, via Bleacher Report. “The truth is, we need to be out of the tax two years out of the next four in order to get this repeater thing off our books. That’s the plan: to try to do that, and we think we can keep our team together.”
Of course, the Warriors also have the option of trading Paul to a team that requires veteran point guard leadership, such as the Chicago Bulls. Such a move could allow them to add some assets to shore up Stephen Curry’s chances of pursuing his fifth championship.
Chicago’s Alex Caruso & Nikola Vucevic Could Be Fits for Warriors’ Roster
In a hypothetical scenario, if the Warriors were to trade Paul to the Bulls before June 28, they could seek players such as Alex Caruso ($9.46 million) and Nikola Vucevic ($18.5 million) and fillers to match salaries in a potential deal.
The acquisitions of Caruso and Vucevic would solve a ton of the Warriors’ problems in the form of an elite perimeter defender and stretch big. In fact, the Warriors called the Bulls ahead of the February 8 trade deadline with hopes of acquiring Caruso. However, they offered Andrew Wiggins to the Bulls, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
“They [Warriors] were down the road and had very serious conversations about Alex Caruso, about Kelly Olynyk. Teams were calling about Andrew Wiggins,” Shelburne reported on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on February 12. “He’d [Wiggins] been playing a lot better and I think when it got down to it when I’m told, everybody asked for Jonathan Kuminga, and they essentially said, we are never trading Kuminga. He is untouchable.”
Unless the Warriors pull off a successful trade for Wiggins or Paul in the offseason, their chances of improving the roster for the 2024-25 season are slim. The franchise has limited draft assets and stands to lose Klay Thompson in free agency.
ESPN: Chris Paul-to-Bulls Among ‘Deals That Need to Happen’ in 2024
In an article highlighting 10 “deals that need to happen this offseason,” ESPN’s Chris Herring suggested that Paul would be an ideal addition to a young Bulls team needing leadership. Herring argued Paul could mentor Lonzo Ball, who is set to return to the court after two injury-plagued years.
“He wouldn’t be a long-term answer for the Bulls, who have a ton of questions to answer about their roster at large. (Among them: Will 34-year-old free agent DeMar DeRozan be brought back this summer? How about 22-year-old restricted free agent Patrick Williams? And what about the trade chatter with Zach LaVine?),” Herring wrote on May 28.
“But giving them stability at guard will be a plus for a team that abruptly learned just how much good point guard play matters. Having Paul would make them better, whether it’s as a starter or off the bench.”
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Warriors: 2 Players Who Could Be Included in Potential Chris Paul-Bulls Trade