Deadline fast approaching for Kevon Looney and Chris Paul’s options
Decision day is near.
With the Boston Celtics recently crowned as NBA champions, the 2024 NBA offseason is officially underway. And things are about to get exciting very, very quickly. The next two weeks in the league will be positively wild: the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft is this coming Wednesday, June 26, while the second round — it’s a two-day event for the first time — is on Thursday, June 27. On Sunday, June 30 at 3:00 p.m. PT, the free agency moratorium will officially kick off, meaning teams are allowed to negotiate contracts with all free agents. The moratorium ends on Sunday, July 6, at 9:01 a.m. PT, at which point teams can finalize and announce deals.
It’s going to be a busy time for the Golden State Warriors, with a lot of decisions being made in a lot of directions. And next up? Options. It was already reported earlier this week that guard Gary Payton II would be opting into his $9.1 million player option for the upcoming season, but the Dubs also have a pair of critical team options.
On Monday, the Warriors will need to decide whether or not to pick up center Kevon Looney’s contract. If the Dubs do pick up Looney’s deal, he’ll return for $8 million. Otherwise, they’ll owe him a $3 million buyout and he’ll become a free agent.
And then, on Friday, June 28, the deadline hits for Chris Paul’s contract. CP3’s deal is fairly straightforward: the Warriors can opt into one more year of the Hall of Famer for a cool $30 million, or they can let him walk into free agency without paying him anything.
It’s no secret that Golden State is looking for ways to save money this offseason, so if you had to bet, it seems likely that neither contract will be picked up. But it’s worth noting that opt-out dates can be negotiated. The Warriors and Paul can mutually agree to extend the deadline for the option so they have more time to figure out the offseason — and see if they’re able to shed money by, say, trading Andrew Wiggins or losing Klay Thompson. The two sides could also agree to re-negotiate a different deal that’s mutually beneficial, such as converting the one-year, $30-million contract into a two-year, $40 million deal, or something similar.
Buckle up, Dub Nation. Things are about to get interesting.