The Golden State Warriors have taken the necessary steps to secure both their present and their future heading into the 2013-14 season.
The franchise brokered a deal with Andrew Bogut to lock up their starting center for an additional three years. Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports has the story:
The Golden State Warriors have reached an agreement with center Andrew Bogut on a three-year, $36 million extension, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
The deal can grow to approximately $42 million with incentives that can be reached if Bogut play at least 65 games in each individual season and plays well enough defensively that he receives accolades for his work on that end of the floor (e.g. All-Star appearances, all-defensive teams or defensive player of the year awards).
There was some concern that Bogut might play the season out and head into the 2014 offseason as a free agent. The Warriors might have lost him in a bidding war against teams with cap space in that scenario.
Golden State’s starting center confirmed as much in a telephone conversation with Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports:
Q. I’m sure your folks at home appreciate your view there. To jump to the extension, you’d said the other day that you were confident about your health and this wasn’t a case of locking up a deal just in case you got hurt. So where exactly was your head at on this?
A. It was one of those things where, look, to be honest, on the open market, if I have a good year this year I could probably make two or three or four (million) more a year, but the question I asked myself is, ‘When is enough enough?’ I like to be a pretty settled person. I don’t like moving around too much. I didn’t want to play a season out with trade talks because of being an expiring contract and being a valuable trade asset, and not knowing what the future holds for me. I’m very homely, so that was a part of it.
It’s a pretty fair deal for both parties. I think we came to a common ground, and I think it was fair. Look, I think – would I have liked more money? Yes. Would they have liked to pay me less? Yes. But it’s a common ground that’s fair for both parties, and I was never going to be a guy that knocked on their door and said, ‘Look, give me this money or I’m out of here.’ I think we both handled it pretty professionally, and we came to a good deal.
The agreement between Bogut and Golden State allows the Dubs’ front office to now set their sights on improving the roster going forward instead of simply focusing and keeping their core intact. Bogut’s extension comes on the heels of some other notable roster transactions.
Indeed, Golden State exercised the contract options of some of their younger players on the same day they extended their starting center. The details via NBA.com:
The Golden State Warriors announced today that the team has exercised the fourth-year contract option on guard Klay Thompson and the third-year contract options on forward Harrison Barnes and center Festus Ezeli, which are all for the 2014-15 NBA season.
The Warriors’ core players are all signed for the foreseeable future, which means this team will be a playoff contender for quite a while if not more. Have a look Golden State’s player salary structure until 2017-18 courtesy of Hoopsworld:
The Dubs have secured the future but the last thing the franchise needs to do is sell optimism regarding the next few seasons. Look at what it did for Brandon Roy’s Portland Trail Blazers. Those Blazers teams never fulfilled their potential and consequently, Portland currently has a team that might not make the 2014 playoffs.
The Warriors have set up shop for years to come, but make no mistake, the time is now.
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