Warriors GM Says Luxury Tax Penalties Won't Prevent Jordan Poole Contract Extension

The Golden State Warriors may be well into the luxury tax, but it won't preclude them from signing Jordan Poole to a potential extension before October.

"No, no," Golden State Warriors president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers told Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports when asked if financial constraints could hamper their efforts to keep Poole. "I mean, thankfully work for an ownership group in Joe [Lacob] that has committed all kinds of resources to winning. And I know that because every time I asked him about roster and strategy, it's always winning."

As Goodwill noted, the Dubs are already $40 million over the luxury tax threshold of $175 million and repeat offenders in that regard, meaning they could soon enough be paying double the player salaries with the tax included.

Even with the estimates of $100 million or more in playoff revenue coming in, that's still a major bill.

"You don't need me to tell you what our payroll is. It's pretty high," Myers said. "So [Lacob] just wants to win. And we've spent a lot, and we've kept all the players we want to keep, so I don't see that changing."

Any extension for Poole wouldn't kick in until the 2023-24 season—he's under contract next season for $3.9 million before becoming a restricted free agent—but the Dubs already have $95.1 million bookmarked for Steph Curry and Klay Thompson that season alone.

The rookie options on James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody bring the bill up to $117.1 million, while Draymond Green has a player option for $27.5 million that would bring the tally up to $144.6 million, though it wouldn't be a shock if he declined it, seeking one last substantial extension.

And that doesn't include Andrew Wiggins, who will be a free agent in the summer of 2023, or Poole's potential extension, which could be worth as much as five years and $190 million. It also doesn't include filling out the rest of the roster.

But Poole earned himself a very nice contract this season, averaging 18.5 points and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from three and 92.5 from the charity stripe. The 22-year-old has been equally impressive in this year's postseason, putting up 18.4 points per contest.

It wasn't long ago that it seemed as though the Warriors were going to have to choose between the win-now core of Curry, Thompson and Green and committing to a full rebuild. But the emergence of Poole and the play of Wiggins has allowed them to have without sacrificing their young players for playoff-ready veterans.

Keeping Poole will be incredibly expensive. But he's been invaluable for the Dubs this season, and the Warriors appear ready to do whatever it takes to retain his services.