Ranking the Warriors' Offseason Moves from Best to Worst

After re-signing Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors have filled 12 standard contract roster spots, leaving just 2-3 left.

In the coming weeks, we will find out which players get those roster spots on veteran minimum contracts. But for all intents and purposes, the most important parts of free agency are over.

Below, I've ranked the Warriors' offseason moves, including drafting Yaxel Lendeborg and choosing to let Quinten Post leave via free agency.

Best Move: Drafting Yaxel Lendeborg

Some would argue that drafting Lendeborg makes less sense now considering the Warriors didn't make a major trade or free-agent move to be more immediately competitive.

Part of that premise is that Lendeborg, at 23 years old, has less long-term potential than some of the players drafted after him.

It will be fascinating to see if Lendeborg can break the perception that older players taken in the lottery tend to plateau quickly.

I believe he can.

Lendeborg was the highest-rated player left on my big board when the Warriors drafted him. He then showed why by getting Summer League MVP and Summer League Championship Game MVP.

Lendeborg already shows great playmaking instincts despite not spending much time on the perimeter until his final college season. He can be even more valuable than he already is by becoming a better on-ball creator in the NBA.

Second-Best Move: Re-Signing De'Anthony Melton

Melton's three-point shot abandoned him last season, and yet he was still one of the most impactful players on the Warriors.

His three-point woes gave the Dubs a golden opportunity to keep him for a bargain rate of $5.4 million, and they wisely pounced on it.

Very Good Move: Re-Signing Charles Bassey

As I wrote here, Bassey was the best center left who the Warriors could have realistically gotten.

For a partially guaranteed veteran minimum contract, he was worth a shot.

Decent Move: Re-Signing Kristaps Porzingis

One could argue the Warriors were bidding against themselves by giving Porzingis a contract worth $20 million in Year 1 and a $3 million partial guarantee in Year 2.

But they couldn't afford to lose him for nothing, and slightly overpaying is an acceptable outcome for a player as talented as Porzingis.

Now, the Dubs just need him to stay on the court more than he has over the last two seasons.

Slightly Above-Average Move: Re-Signing Al Horford for 2 Years

At 40 years old, Horford and his camp did not a nice job in negotiations getting a second-year player option. That's the part of this move that isn't good for the Warriors.

But overall, it's good to have Horford back, age concerns be damned. He's worth more than his $6.8 million salary.

Satisfactory Move: Re-Signing Draymond Green for 1 Year, $27.7M

From a value perspective, this is an awful contract. At best, Green is worth half of this salary.

But it's likely that the Warriors and Green had an agreement that he'd get this contract offer after he declined his player option of the same amount to give the team flexibility for a LeBron James pursuit.

By the time the Dubs gave him this contract, all of their MLE targets were off the board, so his big salary isn't preventing them from getting someone else.

The Warriors could have negotiated a two- or three-year contract with a lower AAV, but I actually prefer the idea of giving him one last big salary before they give him veteran minimums for the rest of his career.

Second-Worst Move: Letting Quinten Post Walk

Had the Warriors matched Quinten Post's three-year, $30 million offer sheet, they would have had less money to pay James and Green, so at the time it seemed justified.

But considering James ended up signing for the veteran minimum anyway, one could argue the Warriors shouldn't have been worried about opening up non-taxpayer mid-level exception space for James.

Of course, James is now a 76er, which means Post's contract would have had no negative impact on Golden State's offseason except eating into Green's salary.

Knowing what we know now, keeping Post would have been preferred.

Worst Move: Not Using Flexibility from Draymond's Opt-Out

This subheadline could also be titled "waiting on LeBron James' decision with no backup plan."

To be fair to the Warriors front office, it would have been complicated to do anything other than sign James. To use the NTMLE (up to $15 million), they would have had to stay under the first apron of $209 million.

So, for example, had they gotten Collin Sexton ($9.4 million 2026-27 salary) by using a portion of the NTMLE, they would have been hard-capped at the first apron, meaning Green would have had to settle for a max salary of about $10 million.

Would Green have approved of losing about $17 million in salary so the Warriors can roster Sexton? I don't know, but the bottom line is the Dubs could have done something with the flexibility Green afforded them, and instead they did nothing.

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