Should the Warriors Trade Klay Thompson?

[EvanZ]

If the Lakers can trade for Klay and bring in PG via free agency next year, could actually be the start of a decent little playoff team. Not a championship team, but can at least make the playoffs and make them matter a little bit.

Even if the Lakers offered GSW the #2 pick, the Warriors aren't doing that deal for Klay.

[jgoldstein34]

From a basketball standpoint, of course not. But, the Lacob's are venture capitalists and I'm not sure they could stomach running a company without turning a profit. The franchise value might be booming, but that doesn't necessarily equate to any real capital ever. I think they may be willing to trade only winning 2 championships but operating with profit vs winning 3-4 but not making any money.

[jgoldstein34]

With rumors of the contracts Iguodala and Livingston might receive, and KD apparently agreeing to just a 20% raise on his salary, here's an updated look at the Warriors future cap:



Still is not pretty, the repeater tax starting in 2020-21 is just terrifying.

[EvanZ]

It's a lot, but "only" $150M or so above what they are paying anyway. If the team is worth close to $4-5B when they move to SF, I'm not sure it even matters.

[jgoldstein34]

Of course being worth 4-5B doesn't mean the owner is making money at all, would probably be running at a deficit for a few years which Lacob would have to eat.

[sndesai1]

if they win a championship in a preceding season, i think he has to eat it
but any slip-up would be an excuse to ship out somebody like klay

[shadow]

Warriors had revenue of $305 million in 2014-15. So they probably wouldn't be operating at that big of a deficit in future seasons even if their total salary expenditures were in the $300 million range.

https://www.forbes.com/teams/golden-state-warriors/

I would probably trade him anyway. You could probably find a decent 3 & D player who doesn't cost nearly as much and can still thrive due to the obvious benefits of playing with Curry, KD & Draymond.