The Golden State Warriors have been left with little choice but to move on from Quinten Post after the young center was given an incredibly smart offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.
The Warriors now have until the end of Tuesday to match the three-year, $30 million offer sheet, but that's overs for what would be a third-string center and a player who likely wouldn't be in the top 10 of a healthy Steve Kerr rotation.
Warriors left with obvious free agency decision on Quinten Post
While at first glance this seems like a fairly irresponsible contract offer from the Grizzlies, NBA insider Jake Fischer has revealed further details of the deal that certainly reduces the risk for Golden State's Western Conference rival.
Fischer reports that only the first of Post's three-year deal is guaranteed, while there's also $1.3 million in unlikely incentives tied to the 26-year-old making an All-Defense Team. In other words, this is a one year experiment for Memphis who can then lock Post in for a second and potentially third season if he can combine his 3-point shooting from his rookie year with the defensive improvements he showed last season.
Only the first season of Quinten Post’s three-year, $30 million offer sheet from
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) July 6, 2026
Memphis is guaranteed, per sources. Yet there are ~$1.3M in unlikely incentives each season if Post were to make an All-Defense Team, so that extra money would count against the Warriors’ apron… https://t.co/Pj9d88iHng
As much as this is a clever move from the Grizzlies, it doesn't help the Warriors at all who would still have an $11.3 million cap hit for next season if they choose to match in the next 36 hours. Given that would impact their pursuit of superstar forward LeBron James, it's impossible to see them matching this offer sheet.
Quinten Post's contract wouldn't provide much value to Warriors
Beyond the James pursuit and Golden State's other plans in free agency, there's a simple value element that makes this Post deal reckless for the front office to match despite the impression he's made over the last two seasons.
Based on the Warriors' current roster construction, Post would become the sixth-highest paid player on the roster -- assuming they re-sign Draymond Green and don't trade Moses Moody. On the court, he'd be the 11th or 12th rotation member, and might even see plenty of DNPs on nights where Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford are healthy.
Post would be making more than Horford, Yaxel Lendeborg, Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton, Gui Santos and Will Richard, most if not all of whom will average more minutes than him next season.
That's not necessarily the be all and end all, but it's another strong indication that this offer is simply too big for the Warriors to match and that Post has almost certainly played his last game with the franchise.
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