Warriors Trade Rumors: Lacob Hasn't Given Mandate to Shed Contracts Amid Wiggins Buzz

Golden State Warriors governor Joe Lacob has reportedly not given the front office an edict to unload salary ahead of the 2024 NBA trade deadline.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported the Warriors are exploring trading Andrew Wiggins, but the team is not facing any demands to skate under the second luxury tax apron this season.

Golden State is carrying a $207 million payroll and is set to pay an additional $186.3 million in luxury tax payments this season. They could theoretically save more than $70 million next season by allowing Klay Thompson to walk in free agency and waiving Chris Paul's non-guaranteed $30 million salary. Even just waiving Paul and signing Thompson to a more reasonable contract would allow the Warriors to duck under the prohibitive second tax apron.

That said, the Warriors remain in a no man's land of struggling to compete with a veteran-laden roster and having no real foundational pieces of the future. Jonathan Kuminga has come on this season and should develop into a solid long-term starter in the NBA, but the Warriors whiffed on 2020 lottery pick James Wiseman and appear to have done the same a year later with Moses Moody.

Rookie Brandin Podziemski has shown some promise, but he projects more as a role player than a star.

With Stephen Curry turning 36 in March, Klay Thompson's performance falling off a cliff and Draymond Green spending more time suspended than on the floor, the Warriors' longtime Big Three can't prop up the remainder of the roster anymore.

Wiggins has somehow been the biggest disappointment on the roster, as he's setting career lows in nearly every major statistical category while cashing a $24.3 million salary. The four-year, $109 million extension Wiggins signed just a year ago now looks like an albatross that will hang on the Warriors' cap sheet through 2026-27 unless they're willing to part with draft picks to get out from under his salary.