Chris Paul’s contract has one year remaining, with the total $30 million value being non-guaranteed. As such, the Golden State Warriors have multiple options at their disposal. They could look to maximize the value of his deal in a trade, waive him or guarantee his final year and have him coming off the bench for what everyone would hope is a championship run.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. told reporters that Golden State is keeping its options open regarding Paul’s current situation. His comments came on Monday (June 24), as he addressed the media at his pre-draft news conference.
“We’re looking through everything,” Dunleavy said. “A lot of options are still on the table in terms of keeping Chris. Obviously there’s a scenario where he gets waived … but I’d say everything is open.”
Waiving or trading Paul would save Golden State a significant amount of cap space. Golden State acquired Paul via trade last summer, with Jordan Poole heading in the opposite direction. Given the current youth movement within the Warriors roster, they may wish to get some form of assets back in return for Paul or to keep him as a leader on the second unit.
Dunleavy has some tough decisions ahead of him. The Warriors must re-tool their aging roster, and how they decide to move forward with Paul’s contract situation will dictate how much flexibility they have available to them.
