In a Bleacher Report article where it was discussed which of the Warriors' three significant free agents, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and DeMarcus Cousins, has the greatest change of leaving and going to the Los Angeles Lakers, who they just faced Monday night. While the article says that Cousins is the man most likely to leave, followed by Durant, and Thompson being the least likely, do not count on all of them leaving.
The buzz around the league is that general manager Bob Myers has the authority from ownership to offer whatever is necessary to keep the group together. If he succeeds, Golden State will continue as the NBA's top team.
You may be wondering, how could the Warriors possibly keep all three of these players when they might lose all three. Well, for starters, they can offer more money for Durant and Thompson, $221 million and $190 million respectively, which should be tough to turn down. However, a underrated scenario is how the Warriors could keep Cousins as well.
The Warriors can only offer 120% of Cousins previous salary ($6.4 million), chump change when compared to the 4 years, $140 million that the Lakers could offer. BUT! Mark Stein of the New York Times reports a very intriguing scenario that could occur with Cousins.
"One of the wildest predictions I've heard lately, from one wise insider, who thinks even DeMarcus Cousins will consider re-upping with the Warriors for one more season despite the (comparatively) minuscule raise they can offer on Cousins' current $5.3 million salary."
If Cousins waits until the summer of 2020 to sign a long-term deal, he'll be eligible for a higher starting salary by virtue of having 10 years of service in the league. He may be willing to lose upward of $26 million in 2019-20 to stay with Golden State so he can cash in on a four-year, $178 million contract with a projected $41.3 million starting salary the following season.
While it is an unlikely scenario for both the Warriors and Cousins to agree on this type of deal, it throws yet another wrinkle into what for sure will be another intriguing NBA Free Agency.
No comments:
Post a Comment