The Golden State Warriors have mostly finished with their 2026 NBA offseason business, having filled out the roster, added their two-way pieces and even agreed to give a look at former first-round draft pick Dalen Terry. But there are still two items–neither of which needs to be done in the immediate–that will have a big say on how their future shakes out in the short term, as well as the long term. The first, of course, is a contract extension for Stephen Curry, whose deal runs up this year. The second is a rookie extension for Brandin Podziemski, who can either sign in the coming weeks or hit restricted free agency next summer.
These would be important decisions no matter what else the Warriors were looking at in the coming year. But they take on bigger importance because the team could find itself in a situation next summer with more than $100 million in cap space–even as much as $130 million if they wanted to be truly aggressive about it.
Brandin Podziemski Will Get At Least $16 Million Per Year
That will, in part, depend on what happens with Curry’s extension. If he wants a full max deal at $137 million for two years, that potential cap space gets cut in half. And if the Warriors decide to extend Podziemski now, that number shrinks by whatever the Warriors agree to give him in the first year.
That remains a big question for a player who has shown promise but has yet to show he’s anything more than a fringe starter or solid sixth/seventh man. Podziemski averaged 13.8 points last season, and has developed into a very good rebounding guard, but he has shot pedestrian numbers–45.2% from the field and 37.5% from the 3-point line–in his career.
Most executives around the league agree that if Podziemski hit the open market, he would have no problem getting the midlevel exception of $16 million per year. But there’s more disagreement on what Podziemski might get on the high end, whether from the Warriors or on the open market.
Warriors Could Go as High as $125 Million
Longtime Warriors and Bay Area reporter Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard put out his high-end Podz projection on the “Warriors Plus/Minus” podcast with Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. The Warriors and Podziemski have until October 19 to come to an agreement, or else he will head to restricted free agency.
He noted that the midlevel is the floor for Podziemski, but as he wrote on Twitter/X: “Don’t want to start a firestorm, but since I brought up the potential Podziemski extension parameters, I’ll add that last year’s Christian Braun deal — 5 years, $125M ($25M per) — is a definite ceiling. And I’d guess the floor is slightly higher than the NTPMLE of $15M a year.”
Warriors, Brandin Podziemski to End Up in Restricted Free Agency?
That should send chills through the spines of Warriors fans. The Braun contract from last summer is one of the worst in the league, a deal that forced the Nuggets into moving off of Peyton Watson this summer. Braun averaged 15.4 points and shot 39.7% from the point line before signing the deal, and in the first year of the massive new contract, he dropped to 12.0 points and played only 44 games.
Getting close to Braun’s contract with a player who has yet to show significant improvement would be a mistake for the Warriors. But they also do not need to make a move on Podziemski now–they will have the right to match any offer next summer in restricted free agency, and not extending him would make him easier to trade during the season.
So, yes $125 might be the ceiling for Podziemski. But the Warriors have little reason to get near that ceiling in the coming weeks.
Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski Contract ‘Ceiling’ at $125 Million