The Golden State Warriors reportedly spent the early portion of the offseason attempting to trade for Paul George. For several reasons, timing was a critical factor. The bulk of the matching salary from the Warriors side of the equation would likely have been Chris Paul, whose contract is non-guaranteed, but whose guarantee date is currently June 30.
The two sides could agree to push it back, but that would require Paul’s consent. The ideal format for a George-to-Golden State trade would have involved the Clippers aggregating salaries to trade for him after he opted into the final year of his contract. That would have allowed the Warriors to operate with the second luxury tax apron as their hard cap.
But on Saturday, George decided to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. He will reportedly take meetings with cap space flush teams starting on Sunday. These two developments make it substantially harder for the Warriors to stay in the picture for George. The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported after George’s decision that the Warriors “have been under the impression today that they are out on Paul George,” and that the opt-out decision “seals it.” In all likelihood, it seems as though George will either remain with the Clippers or sign with a team like the 76ers or Magic.
Could the Warriors possibly pursue George as a free agent? Well, they could try, but there’s no immediate path around the litany of cap rules that currently stand as obstacles. Here are just some of the reasons a sign-and-trade would be so difficult:
- When a team acquires a signed-and-traded player, they are hard-capped at the first apron (roughly $178.7 million). When a team signs-and-trades its own player and receives salary back, it is hard-capped at the second apron (roughly $189.5 million). Therefore, any move here would hard-cap the Warriors at that first number and the Clippers at that second.
- The Warriors currently have only around $5 million in room below that first apron, and only 11 players under contract. They’d need to clear substantial money just to fill out their roster.
- The Warriors couldn’t send excess money to the Clippers, though, because for them to maintain their second-apron hard cap, they would have to send out more money in the trade than they take back.
- The Clippers have roughly $70 million in room beneath the second apron, but remember, in addition to taking back salary from the Warriors, they also plan to re-sign James Harden this offseason. That $70 million in space could evaporate fairly quickly with those two moves coming.
- Paul would have to move back his guarantee date yet again in order to serve as matching salary here. He might do that for the chance of receiving his full payday, but doing so would risk a trade failing to materialize and him getting waived later in free agency when there would be less money available for him to chase.
So, are there technically feasible paths in which the Warriors and Clippers loop in a third team to take on money in exchange for assets? Potentially, but, according to Slater’s reporting, that seems unlikely. There was a window for the Warriors to try to get George through an opt-in-and-trade, but now, it looks like Golden State is probably out of the running for the nine-time All-Star and will have to shift its focus elsewhere.
