Warriors Save Money, Pay Respect by Trading David Lee
By Ben Pickman
In 2010 David Lee came to the Bay Area to turn around a struggling franchise.
Five years later, Lee is leaving with a championship, an All-Star appearance and the respect and admiration of everybody associated within the organization.
Lee was traded to the Celtics on Tuesday afternoon in a move that was seemingly promised to Lee and his agent after the Warriors won the title.
In return, the Warriors received the corpse of Gerald Wallace and what could amount to be more than $25 million in salary.
The Warriors are still well over the cap, but because the luxury tax is progressive, meaning teams pay high penalties as they spend more over the tax line, small decreases to payroll can have a big impact. Trading Lee for Wallace saves them $25 million right off the bat and if the Warriors use the stretch provision on Wallace, waiving him and stretching his contract over the next three seasons, the Warriors would save $35 million in taxes.
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From a basketball standpoint, the Warriors will not likely spend any of this saved money anytime soon. They have a ton of salary allotted to Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Stephen Curry, and Andre Iguodala. In two years, Harrison Barnes’ rookie deal will run out and the Warriors will likely throw him an extension to lock him up.
Just this past season the Warriors learned the importance of being a deep team and having quality options at every position. This newly saved money as well as an expanding salary cap means the Warriors will likely have the opportunity to spend more in the future.
While trading Lee makes them a worse basketball team, he was seldom used this season and it was out of respect for Lee that the Warriors let him go. Wallace joins a crowded wing position. He will likely ride the pine because minutes need to be allocated to Barnes, Green, Iguodala, and Marreese Speights and even Brandon Rush before Wallace can see the floor.
After Lee was traded, Thompson posted a photo on Instagram with the caption, “It’s tough to see my big bro D Lee go, Boston gotta great player and true pro. A true vet who looked out for me and all the young guys. I’m not alone in saying this but DubNation is gonna miss u my man.”
Thompson is right. The Warriors will miss David Lee, but out of respect they let him go. They saved a ton of money and didn’t have to waste a pick to do so.