It’s a move that stung Warriors fans and reportedly some within the organization, but Warriors governor Joe Lacob told Tim Kawakami on the latest episode of the ‘TK Show’ that Golden State simply couldn’t afford to keep Gary Payton II this summer.
“No surprise to us that if these guys got … like Gary Payton had a good year and if he got a big offer, it was going to be very unlikely we were going to re-sign him, no matter how much we love him,” Lacob said. “And we did like him a lot. He got a much bigger offer, in fact, than we thought he would get. Way beyond. And I’m not saying he’s not worth it or is worth it. But it is a lot. And it’s not something we really could entertain doing.”
Payton was paid the minimum with the Warriors last season, and signed a three-year deal with the Blazers worth $29 million. Golden State was also unable to retain Otto Porter Jr., who signed a two-year, $12.3 million deal with the Raptors.
“And Otto Porter,” Lacob said. “Had a great year for us. I’m not saying he’s not deserving of what he got because he is. But if he got that, we knew we’d be in trouble. And so that’s how it played out. To some extent, these guys played really well and made themselves more valuable and we made them more valuable. And so unfortunately in that situation, they have to move on and we have to bring in some other guys.”
The Warriors had the highest payroll in NBA history last season due to an enormous repeater luxury tax bill, a payroll that is set to increase this year, even without retaining Payton and Porter.
“Gary was a minimum player last year. And you multiply everything by six or seven, or whatever the multiple is, it’s an enormous amount of money. So I guess the answer to your question is, I wasn’t really too optimistic in the beginning that we’d be able to retain all of these guys. We thought we could retain one or two. It didn’t go that way. It went worse than that. Or better, if you will, for them.”
One player that Lacob refused to let walk was Kevon Looney, who the Warriors again re-signed on a reasonable deal for three-years, $25 million.
“That was the priority for us honestly,” Lacob said. “He’s one of our own that we felt we had to bring back. First of all, he did a great job. Secondly, he’s been with us, he falls somewhat into the category of guys who’ve been with us, what, seven years now. He’s one of the longest-tenured guys in the league also now, people don’t stay with teams this long.
“And with James Wiseman coming back this year, he’s looking great, we’re incredibly excited about it, but you can’t have one center. And until Wiseman actually plays, I don’t think we can go into the season without Looney.”
You can listen to Kawakami’s entire interview with Lacob here: https://theathletic.com/podcast/13-the-tk-show/?episode=159