How the new NBA salary cap & tax level impacts the Golden State Warriors

The NBA and NBPA agreed on a 2020-21 season start and CBA agreement, including the finances of the Salary Cap and tax threshold for the upcoming season.

The NBA and NBPA agreed Monday on a 2020-21 season start and adjustments to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The 2020-21 NBA season will consist of 72 games and start on December 22, 2020 and free agency will begin on Friday, November 20, two days after next week’s NBA draft. The 2020-21 NBA salary cap was set at $109.140M and the tax threshold was set at $132.627M, which is very favorable for the Golden State Warriors since the team’s tax payments will be reduced if the team reports any decreases in their BRI (Basketball Related Income).

So what exactly does this mean for the Golden State Warriors? This agreement and the last part about the BRI is extremely important for teams like the Golden State Warriors who owe their star players a lot of money up-front. The Warriors are set to pay Steph, Klay, Wiggins and Green roughly $130.1M next season, leaving them with only about $2.4M in wiggle room until they reach the tax threshold.

Due to the agreement between the NBA and NBPA, the Warriors are set to pay a lot less than they would have in luxury taxes for the 2020-21 season because of the decreases they will see in BRI this season.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks and others offered their insight on how exactly this BRI clause positively impacts the Golden State Warriors for the 2020-21 NBA Season and their pursuit of free agents:

With no fans expected to be in attendance for the Warriors to start the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and revenue expected to go down as a result, the $17.2M trade exception Golden State owns could be used to save close to $50M in tax penalties for the Warriors as laid out by ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

For the Warriors, this means they can pursue any free agent they want, knowing they will be able to avoid a hefty amount of the tax penalty for being over the tax level and salary cap. While other teams can also use this “loophole” to save themselves money, it really only benefits the top teams in the league since they can add more firepower to their rosters without being penalized financially, hence, the “rich are getting richer.”

Coming off a 2019-20 season that could not end soon enough for the Warriors, they enter the 2020-21 NBA season with Steph & Klay fully healthy, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and look like a legit title contender in the eyes of free agents around the league. Players like F Serge Ibaka, F Danilo Gallinari and F Jae Crowder who were projected to be outside of the Warriors’ projected spending margin in this year’s free agency now all of a sudden are back in the picture to be potential signings for Golden State this offseason.

Brain Witt of NBC Sports also talked about the NBA finances and their impact on the Warriors and stated:

"“The Warriors mostly have been irrelevant for the last year, and the rest of the teams in the league weren’t the least bit upset about it. With Golden State on an injury-induced sabbatical, that was one major hurdle out of their way. But now the Warriors are back, and they’re back with a vengeance. The core of their dynasty is healthy and amply motivated, and that absolutely should put a scare into the rest of the league.”"

Not only is he 100% correct, but it just continues to prove that no matter what the rest of the league does, it will always revolve around the Golden State Warriors until their core retires, which hopefully will not be for another decade. Warriors fans should be extremely excited not only for the NBA Draft next week, but for what Bob Myers and the front office has prepared in free agency this year as it seems Christmas came early for Golden State this year!