Golden State is 0-2 after the Grizzlies rallied from 12 down to win 111-108 on Friday, according to Anthony Slater’s ESPN recap. Two days earlier, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Warriors have begun exploring trade routes for veteran center Kristaps Porziņģis. The cap sheet allows one kind of deal, and the best version of it can’t happen until Dec. 15.
Golden State Has No Room Under Its Hard Cap
Spotrac has the Warriors at $221.3 million in allocations. That leaves them $347,568 under the second apron of $221,686,000, which works as a hard cap for them this season. The hard cap kicked in when they signed De’Anthony Melton using the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, which under the current CBA caps a team at the second apron for the rest of the year.
They are also $12.3 million over the first apron, which means they cannot take back more than 100 percent of the salary they send out in a trade.
The mid-level is spent. Spotrac lists a $2,221,677 trade exception from the Trayce Jackson-Davis deal that expires Feb. 5. In practice it is useless, because absorbing even $2.2 million would push them through the hard cap unless they shed salary somewhere else.
Before Dec. 15, Porziņģis Is the Only Salary That Can Move
It is late October, and most of the roster can’t be traded yet. Hoops Rumors lists Bassey, Green, Horford and Melton among the players who can’t be traded until Dec. 15. Green also re-signed on a one-year deal, which gives him an implicit veto: waiving those veto rights and approving a trade before the 2027 trade deadline would leave him entering next offseason with only Non-Bird rights.
Porziņģis is the exception. His June extension did not include a raise greater than 5 percent in the first year, which kept him immediately trade-eligible. He makes $20 million this season, and only $3 million of the $20 million in the second season is guaranteed.
So any trade before mid-December is Porziņģis alone, for a player making $20 million or less. The first team to get that call didn’t want it: The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported the Warriors contacted Milwaukee, and the Bucks “are not believed to have any interest.”
The Big Contracts Aren’t Available
Curry, Podziemski and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg aren’t going anywhere. Butler’s $56.8 million expiring deal is the only salary large enough to match a star, but the Warriors told Butler this summer they were not trading him. He also isn’t playing yet. Per Slater, Butler could return between January and February 2027, although the Warriors have yet to set a firm date.
Moses Moody makes $12.5 million with two years left, is also rehabbing, and the team reportedly wants to keep him. As for Porziņģis, Charania reported he is seriously contemplating his future in basketball. A buyer is taking on a salary, not a player.
The Picks Are There, With One Gap
Golden State has traded away only two first-round picks: a protected 2030 pick sent to Washington in the 2023 Chris Paul deal, and a protected 2025 pick sent to Miami for Jimmy Butler. That leaves real draft capital. Because the 2030 obligation is still outstanding, though, the Stepien rule keeps them from trading their 2029 and 2031 firsts outright. On the second-round side, they have just one tradable second-round pick.
Expect a Center Making $20 Million or Less, After Dec. 15
The most likely move is Porziņģis, plus Melton or Horford once they become eligible, plus a protected first, for a starting-caliber center whose contract doesn’t eat into next summer. That last condition decides which centers are possible. Taking on a deal with another $20 million-plus attached would shrink the Warriors’ projected 2027 space from a bit more than $50 million to a bit more than $30 million, and this front office kept Green on a one-year deal specifically to protect that space.
A bigger move needs Butler’s salary in it. That requires Butler back on the floor and showing he’s healthy, and the Warriors going back on what they told him. His return window runs right up against the Feb. 11 deadline, so the Warriors may have only a few weeks of evidence to decide whether their most valuable trade asset is a player or a salary. Until then, every realistic deal tops out at $20 million.
Sources: Shams Charania and Anthony Slater (ESPN), Sam Amick (The Athletic), Hoops Rumors
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