After 8 seasons of grinding, Andrew Wiggins finally became an All-Star player, and the most surprising thing is that not only the All-Star player, but also the All-Star starter, this honor list is undoubtedly the biggest affirmation of Wiggins's improvement in defense and scoring efficiency.
It was a brilliant achievement that allowed Wiggins to form this year's All-Star starting lineup along with the world's brightest basketball superstars. Look at all the names that were named for the All-Star starters: Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Ja Morant, Kevin Durant, Alphabet Brother, Joel Embiid, Trae Young, Demar DeRozan, and finally Wiggins, an honor that is not only eye-catching, but also expensive. Wiggins will become a free agent at the end of next season, and after becoming an All-Star starter, the Warriors and the league's other 29 teams will have to revisit his market value.
Wiggins has shown the ability to improve and adjust his offensive level while still maintaining a good scoring average per game, showing above-average defense and a willingness to integrate into the offensive and defensive system, fulfilling the role of the second or third star of any strong team. Everything suggests wiggins will get a pretty good contract in the summer of 2023, and being an All-Star starter will further enhance his value and also give him and his team of agents some asking chips.
That's not to say that Wiggins' market value is beyond the Warriors' budget, but that would definitely be a lot of money, not just because of Wiggins' contract itself, but because Wiggins' contract would be superimposed on other contracts that the Warriors already had. The biggest problem for the Warriors regarding his contract is that Wiggins' current contracts will expire before Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, meaning the first year of a hypothetical Wiggins contract will overlap with the Big Three's existing contracts, a total amount that would be scary enough.
In the first year of Wiggins' new contract, Curry will make nearly $52 million a year, Thompson will earn $43 million a year, and Green will make more than $27.5 million if he executes the player option in the last year of his contract (which he is almost certain to do), plus if the Warriors execute the team options of James Wiseman, Jonathan Cumminga and Moses Moody's rookie contracts, they will be about $12 million, $6 million and $4 million, respectively. All of this adds up to a combined total salary of the Warriors' core Big Three plus their rookie trio of $144.77 million.
The damn thing is that the salary cap for the 2023-24 season is expected to be about $121.5 million, and the luxury trigger line is about $147.7 million, so the Warriors have already reached the luxury tax trigger line just by paying Curry, Thompson, Green, Wiseman, Cuminga and Moody, and they still have nine lineup gaps to fill.
And you'll notice a name that the editor hasn't mentioned yet: Jordan Poole. The Warriors have opted for the team option to execute on a four-year rookie contract with Poole, which means he will enter the free agent market at the same time as Wiggins, and it's a bit mysterious how much he will make in the free agent market for the first time in his career, but if he continues on his current trajectory of progress, it's safe to say that his next contract will definitely not be less than $15 million a year. Assuming that the Warriors signed back Poole with a contract with an annual salary of about $15 million and filled the other 7 lineups with a veteran base salary, a rookie contract, and a taxpayer exception with an average annual salary of $1.8 million, this puts their total salary just under $172.4 million, leaving the last lineup vacant.
This is not an unacceptable figure for this salary level, the Warriors' total salary this year is close to $175.9 million, far exceeding the $136.6 million luxury tax trigger line, which means that the Warriors will pay more than $170 million in luxury taxes this year, but if Warriors boss Joe Lacob feels that this year's results are satisfactory, he should be willing to continue to pay this level of luxury taxes.
But we haven't taken into account Wiggins's whereabouts so far, given his current career trajectory, and the fact that he's now an All-Star starter, so we can boldly assume that his next contract will start at more than $30 million. But even a $30 million a year would feel a little low, not to mention signing Poole with an annual salary of $15 million, which would have left the Warriors' total salary well over $200 million, which in turn would have made their luxury tax well over $200 million.
The good news is that after that year the Warriors' financial burden will be relieved, Thompson and Green's contract expires in the first year of the new contract that Wiggins assumes, and Curry's contract expires in the following year, although their form this season will show the possibility of their careers also having LeBron James's rejuvenation miracle, but it is believed that the Warriors will retain them with a contract below the top salary, and the Warriors' financial situation may be good by then, and just in time for Cuminga's renewal.
It's bound to be Interesting to Poole, who will enter the free agent market with Wiggins, who is 28 and a half years old and Poole has just turned 24. If the Warriors' finances force them to choose between the two players, they'll choose a full-Star starter who may have reached his peak and is still a young and exciting substitute who is immature but cheaper, and whose formative years match Wiseman, Cuminga and Moody.
The Warriors' results in the next two playoffs will give the answer, and if the Warriors don't achieve satisfactory results in the playoffs this day and tomorrow, then letting Wiggins go and giving young players more opportunities to exercise is the best choice. If they reach the Finals, or even win the championship, then the Warriors will have a hard time choosing, and xiaobian actually can't imagine that a person like Lacob, who has a bulging wallet, will disband a championship team because of a yacht money. So the Warriors please win a few more championship trophies, not just for the honor of the team, but also to make sure Wiggins can play a few more seasons with the Warriors.