Warriors Re-Sign Porziņģis for $40 Million as LeBron-AD Pursuit Stays Viable

Q: With their main salary exception gone, what creative trade is the Warriors' only path to acquiring another superstar?

The Warriors’ only realistic path is a salary-matching blockbuster trade, most likely built around Jimmy Butler’s expiring contract. With Porzingis re-signed using Bird rights, Golden State is no longer positioned to meaningfully use the $15 million non-tax midlevel exception without running into first-apron constraints. That removes the cleanest route to adding another star through free agency and leaves a trade as the practical alternative. The clearest version of that trade is Butler for Anthony Davis, with draft compensation and possibly smaller contracts attached to satisfy league trade rules. Butler’s $56.8 million expiring deal is the key mechanism because it is large enough to closely match Davis’s $58.4 million salary. The reporting around Golden State’s cap situation points to this as the only workable superstar path now that the main exception is effectively off the table. Draymond Green’s opt-out could still help at the margins if he re-signs at a lower starting salary, but that alone does not create enough room to sign a superstar outright. It mainly helps the Warriors stay below apron thresholds while structuring a larger trade. So the “creative” move is not a cap-space signing. It is a star-for-star swap, most plausibly sending Butler out to bring Davis in, while preserving Stephen Curry and likely keeping Green as part of the core. Without that kind of deal, Golden State’s superstar chase appears severely limited.

Q: By re-signing Porzingis, have the Warriors sacrificed their dream of uniting LeBron James with Stephen Curry this offseason?

Not entirely, but it has made the path much harder. Porzingis’s two-year, $40 million return gives Golden State a player it values at a manageable price, yet it also appears to cost the Warriors their clearest mechanism for signing LeBron James: the $15 million non-tax mid-level exception. ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported that Porzingis’s deal likely prevents Golden State from using that exception, which had been viewed as a key route to adding James if he were willing to take less than a maximum salary. That does not mean the idea is dead. Reporting around the league still suggests there are theoretical paths to create room for James, especially if more salary is moved or if multiple veterans take discounts. But those paths are far more complicated than they were before Porzingis re-signed, and they would likely require additional roster reshaping rather than a straightforward free-agent signing. The broader reporting also indicates Porzingis was always a likely casualty in any true LeBron-Anthony Davis pursuit. In other words, keeping him signals that Golden State may be prioritizing a realistic win-now roster around Stephen Curry over an all-in gamble on a blockbuster reunion. So the Warriors have not definitively sacrificed the dream, but they have significantly weakened their chances. Re-signing Porzingis looks less like a setup for landing LeBron and more like a sign that Golden State is choosing stability unless a more creative, difficult deal emerges.

3 articles · Updated · CBS Sports · Jun 30

$40 million for Kristaps Porziņģis still leaves Golden State a workable path to chase LeBron James and Anthony Davis under the first-apron cap rules, according to the latest salary math.
Draymond Green's opt-out is central to that plan: a lower first-year deal could pair with a $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel offer for LeBron after James told the Lakers he will leave.
$32.5 million below the first apron with 10 players under contract, the Warriors would need Green plus two minimum deals to fit unless they shed more salary.
Moses Moody's $12.5 million contract is the clearest lever, with a salary dump potentially freeing enough room to push Green near $20 million annually while preserving a LeBron slot.
Anthony Davis would likely require a Jimmy Butler-for-Davis swap plus draft compensation, making the blockbuster difficult but financially possible even after the Porziņģis deal.