Warriors Have Emergency Solution If Needed for LeBron James Plan

The Golden State Warriors' LeBron James pursuit has one complication.

And that's fitting James' mid-level exception contract and Draymond Green's new contract under the $209 million first apron.

I wrote here that the Warriors would have to trade Moses Moody into a team's cap space to have enough money left over to give Green a reasonable salary after he declined his $27.7 million player option.

But it's possible the Warriors don't find a taker for Moody.

It still seems more likely than not that someone would trade for him. Even though most teams who entered free agency with cap space have already spent it, there are seven teams with trade exceptions large enough to absorb Moody's contract.

But on the off chance the Warriors are forced to keep Moody, they gave themselves an emergency solution with the way they structured Kristaps Porzingis' contract extension.

Porzingis Is Tradable Immediately

Had Porzingis signed a new contract with his Bird rights, there would have been a trade restriction for a few months.

But instead, the Warriors gave him a contract extension without a raise of greater than 5 percent between years one and two, which means there is no trade restriction.

Golden State can trade the 7'2" Latvian for a player making much less than his $19.5 million salary to open up more cap room for Green's contract.

I have my doubts that there will be a big market for Porzingis. He's missed 90 regular-season games over the last two seasons with injures and illnesses.

But at the least, the Warriors can explore Porzingis' trade market if they are having trouble moving Moody's contract.

Porzingis Can Be Released to Make Cap Room

This is the last-resort emergency solution.

Porzingis' 2026-27 salary is guaranteed for just $3 million until July 7. If the Warriors find no other way to create cap room for Green's contract, they could eat that $3 million to make Porzingis a free agent days after extending his contract.

I can't imagine using this option would go over well with the rest of the league.

But to make the James plan work, the Warriors could consider it. Releasing Porzingis would create $16.5 million of space the Dubs could use to pay Green more and potentially afford more experienced players on veteran minimum contracts.

Warriors Would Ideally Keep Porzingis

The issue with trading or releasing Porzingis is the Warriors would be lacking offensive punch at the center position.

With all due respect to Al Horford, Porzingis is a much better scorer.

Having Porzingis' three-level scoring ability would be essential to open up space for lineups that are otherwise cramped with some combination of James, Green and Jimmy Butler (when he's healthy).

That's why the Warriors should look to other options like trading Moody before resorting to a Porzingis trade or release.

Add us as a preferred source on Google