What negotiations take place when the trio meets the front office for extension discussions?
Poole’s place behind Curry, and current defensive limitations that prevent him from potentially replacing Thompson, create an issue that may prove too difficult to overcome.
If Green comes to the negotiating table wanting a four-year extension on big money, Myers and the front office will have an obvious challenge to that. With Green’s descent and Kuminga’s ascent, would the Warriors not expect the latter to be a better player by two years into Green’s extension?
If that’s the case, Golden State could be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Start Kuminga and bench Green who’s making $30+ million, or prohibit the young player’s development as he enters the back end of his rookie contract?
When Wiggins goes to the negotiating table, he and his manager will come with one major leveraging factor. How will the Warriors replace their All-Star caliber starting small forward, especially when he’ll remain in his prime over the course of the contract? Even if they let Wiggins walk, they’ll still be in the luxury tax and have no wiggle room to go and acquire a replacement anywhere near his level.
Do the Warriors believe Moody could slide up, or Kuminga slide down to the three? Maybe if things went right, but that’ll be a decision they have to make in the next 10 months when neither will be ready to take such a role.
Green can look at the franchise’s long-term emotional connection to him, and his unparalleled synergy with Curry. Poole will state he’s the youngest and has the most development left, possibly arguing that he might be the best of the three players across the next four-to-five years.
Realistically, that’s the only argument they have as to why they should be prioritized.
In contrast, Wiggins has multiple elements that rank him top in the hierarchy – his age and prime years ahead, what he just delivered last season, his extraordinary durability, and most importantly, his relative value given the Warriors roster.