Golden State Warriors: Coronavirus-caused financial limitations could impact Dubs

The Golden State Warriors and the NBA have both been brutally impacted by COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus.

The United States, as a whole, has been devasted by the coronavirus. The NBA, although the bulk of teams have taken care of their employees, has undoubtedly hit hard, and the Golden State Warriors have likely also taken a hit.

Majority owner Joe Lacob talked about that financial impact and the effect it may have on the offseason, an offseason in which the Warriors have a huge $17 million trade exception they could use along with mid-level exception they could opt to use as well.

Having lived in the luxury tax for the last few seasons, the future of the league, while not in jeopardy, does have some question marks.

“We’re looking at all of those questions and the possible answers. But I don’t really have a good sense yet because I really have no idea how this is gonna shake out. We don’t know what the salary cap is gonna be, we don’t know what the luxury tax is gonna be,” Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.

Lacob is right.

The Warriors will undoubtedly be in the luxury tax to some expect with four max-value contracts. Stephen Curry‘s supermax hurts the cap enough, but then one must add in Klay Thompson and Draymond Green high-value contract along with the recently-added Andrew Wiggins.

How will that impact the offseason though? While the answer may not be clear, we do know the Warriors’ ownership group is looking at it from every possible angle.

“We don’t really know what we can plan on at this point. We just have to look at a lot of different scenarios. That’s what we’re doing right now. It could make a huge difference, it might make no difference,” Lacob added.

The Warriors haven’t been a team to keep the pocketbook at rest. They have been spending to be the best team in the league and would’ve continued to show prowess in that area had Kevin Durant wanted to re-sign along with retaining of Thompson and Green.

The bulk of the team is locked up, but it’s going to be more about how to enhance the team and build a championship roster around them — not acquire the talent to become one of the best in the league. That’s why it will be interesting to see what Lacob and the team spend.

They don’t need much, but if they maximize their potential, they could be certainly spending quite a bit more than necessary to make the playoffs.