The Warriors, for once, have assets that owners and management — coaches included — may actually want. Besides the on-going Monta Ellis versus Stephen Curry trade chip rumors, the Warriors hold 19 million dollars in expiring contracts: Dan Gadzuric (7.25 Million), Vladimir Radmanovic (6.88 Million), and Brandan Wright (3.34 Million).
Except, the problem has been that the Warriors can’t seem to get anything of worth for them, says GM Larry Riley. Or the teams that are dangling players don’t want expiring contracts as much as they want actual skill to improve their lot. In the rumored Luol Deng for Warriors expiring contracts, the Bulls seem to want more given how they’re vying to be THE team to beat in the Eastern Conference.
But why are expiring contracts so important in the in the first place? And what are the implications of it given the pending NBA lockout?
For those that aren’t completely sure about the ‘value’ of expiring contracts, they basically represent salary cap relief by the end of the season. For the most part, in this particular economic climate, teams with escalating salaries but haven’t been able to produce wins or much interest in ticket sales are resorting to cutting costs as much as they can. With the NBA teams, reportedly, losing a collective $370 million dollars, finding ways to save seems most ideal in this climate. Most often that not, teams with disgruntled players or stars looking for a change of scenery are willing to gut their team and start-over by taking on these expiring contracts with the intention of letting them walk at seasons end. And here comes rebuilding mode.
That’s just a brief run-down of how expirings have come to matter in this day and age. Of course there are other ways that expirings matter not touched upon here.
Clearly Larry Riley is not willing to let this capital go to waste. But is there anyone out there that can be the difference maker for the Warriors? Unfortunately, teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers, the Chicago Bulls, and Indiana Pacers — all having swingmen the Warriors are interested in — feel they're on the cusp of dominance if they could pick up one (or two) more players. Expirings, unfortunately, aren’t part of that equation.