Kristaps Porzingis has dealt the Golden State Warriors a tough situation with his unwillingness to be around the team, but the veteran center could give the franchise one last gift before presumably heading into retirement.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania on Wednesday, Porzingis is willing to take a significant contract buyout to finalize his departure from the NBA, potentially making him a more desirable trade piece for opposing teams.
Kristaps Porzingis could give Warriors one final gift with rival buyout
The Warriors aren't going to orchestrate a buyout with Porzingis themselves because they want to use his $20 million salary in a trade. In the meantime Golden State have begun refusing to pay Porzingis -- a decision he and the players association are choosing not to dispute.
There could be multiple rival teams around the league who would be interested in a Porzingis buyout though, particularly if it were to help their payroll situation not only this season but across future years.
It's unclear just how much of a buyout Porzingis would be willing to accept, but if he has no plans of ever rendering his services to a team -- just as he's undertaking with the Warriors at the moment -- he and his management will come to the table with little to no leverage.
The ideal situation for Golden State is that a team is so incentivized to save money that they don't even need a draft asset to take the Porzingis contract. This would seem unlikely so early in the season, but it's not totally inconceivable as the Warriors explore multiple avenues.
Warriors could try to execute Kristaps Porzingis-Jalen Smith swap
Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported on Wednesday that the Warriors have interest in Chicago Bulls big man Jalen Smith. This is not surprising given Smith's start to the season, the rebuilding state of the Bulls, and Golden State's desire to resolve the Porzingis situation.
The most likely outcome is that Golden State need to give up an asset to acquire Smith in a trade. However, as Joey Akeley of Sports Illustrated outlined on Wednesday, there's a very remote chance that Chicago would make a straight swap on the proviso of Porzingis instantly retiring and thus saving ownership quite a few million dollars.
This exact scenario may not play out for the Warriors, but Porzingis' willingness to accept a significant buyout could now open up opportunities that may have otherwise not been available to them.
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