I expect Thompson to take a deal in the $25 million range to keep the team together, but Draymond will bolt in 2020. I think KD will also continue to take $5 million or so under his max.
I think the opposite, that Green will take less to keep the train rolling, because he has to know he will become pretty irrelevant on a bad team that gives him the max.
Klay on the other hand, may actually be worthy of a max and could be effective on another team and not be the “fourth star” of the Warriors.
Klay, unlike Green, can continue to be an All-Star if he went to another team. Klay could get more recognition and more appreciation elsewhere.
Durant will stay because I really don’t think there is an avenue for him (like LeBron returning to Cleveland) to undo what he did to his image and legacy.
I could see Durant decide to go play with Lebron in LA next year. No doubt in my mind that that is a very real possibility
I think what happens this year will decide a lot. The Warriors looked pretty vulnerable vs Houston last year. This year will only be worse. They reportedly had locker room issues last year and those will only get worse adding a proven cancer like Boogie (off the bench lol). I think it will brutally tough for them to win this year. They will have to get through Houston, LA and hopefully us. Very tough.
If they don't win this year I think it totally crumbles and everyone goes someplace else..
Oh yeah. The pressure on that team, year after year in the front page... it's gotta grind.
Scotty aside, weren't Jordan's 2 3-peats mostly different teams? And Kobe's 2nd 2 were with a different team than the first 3.
It's just hard to keep it together for so long, mentally, in skills (e.g. Injury or age), or financially.
Their core has several more years of prime ball. Healthy, they should be set if they can keep their attitudes straight and the boss writes the checks.
Usually, it's not the stars but overpaid journeymen that are the budget busters on contenders. They just have so many stars that they're rewriting how to structure team payroll.
Are they somehow taking turns getting paid? Like, making sure each guy gets a full max at some point, and taking discounts at others? I really wonder what their longer term plan is (and ours, for that matter). Like, how high can payroll get? How much are these top franchises bringing in a year when player salary and tax tops $350M?
And when you essentially have the contenders paying so much tax, they basically pay their opponent, how far are we from a regular season of Globetrotters/Generals games?