With a new contract in hand, Andrew Bogut, starting center for the Golden State Warriors, received quite the end-of-the-week bonus.
The 7’0’’ Australian big man signed a three-year, $36 million extension on Friday (October 25), as reported by Marcus Thompson of the San Jose Mercury News.
Bogut can receive an additional $6 million in incentives based on games played and defensive awards. The deal escalates to the $42 million mark if he plays in at least 65 games and achieves either an All-Star nod, All-NBA, All-NBA Defense or Defensive Player of the Year award.
He will earn $14 million this year and is signed through the 2016-2017 season.
Now, how does this reasonable but still lucrative contract impact the Warriors’ salary cap situation?
Golden State’s current cap figure stands at $66,864,126. According to Spotrac, the NBA luxury tax number for this year is $71,748,000. Do the basic math and the Warriors have $4.8 million worth of financial flexibility this season.
That doesn’t equate to a whole lot of spending options in big-name free agency.
However, should they want to bring in a veteran point guard (a la the departed Jarrett Jack) behind the oft-injured Stephen Curry, or another depth-filling player, they are not entirely without the fiscal capacity to do so.
The salary cap picture gets brighter moving forward.
Bogut’s contract deescalates from $14 million this season to $12.9 million next year, $12 million in 2016-2017 and $11.1 million in 2017-2018, the final year of his deal.
Golden State, then, will have just that much more spending power over the next two seasons when young guns Klay Thompson (2015) and Harrison Barnes (2016) near free agency. This organization can lock up both foundational players a year before their deals expire if it wishes to take that approach.
Like the negotiations involving Bogut and his representatives, general manager Bob Myers can combat any outside contractual temptations before they materialize.
As for Bogut, it was certainly a risk considering his injury history, but a necessary one worth taking. He fills the role of stout inside defender who can also rebound and facilitate offensively with his underrated passing skills.
The Warriors have retained their proud organizational roots and NBA respectability with Bogut’s deal. He forms a corps group with Curry, Thompson and Barnes, not to mention double-double machine David Lee and the ever-versatile Andre Iguodala.
Said starting-five (plus one) will help ensure that respectable status stays in place—at least for the next two seasons, and most likely beyond.
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