SoCal,

Are you really as stupid as your reply makes you out to be? Or rather inattentive to the details of what I said.

I said exactly the tricks the Warriors would do to drop Looney and yet not take a hit on the cap when signing players. They will try to move him, perhaps give him away for cash (this is done frequently), in one of those cap small move trades, or swap him for another team's failure or their drafted European player who is no longer expected to come to the NBA (roughly 2/3rds of draft picks are flops or never really play). I also said things will happen in a certain order to minimize the cap impact. Your reply shows you did not comprehend this, which is why I think you are being somewhat stupid above.

I follow the Warriors very closely and I can tell you three key things to remember

1. Bob Meyers has admitted they expect to pay luxury tax (meaning the salaries will top $122.4M this year). They will of course try to skirt under it, so the MLE will be $5.797M instead of $3.477M, which they will sign McGee with. Frankly the lower number is closer to his value, but they can lock him down for two years on the higher one.

2. The players who recruited Durant are Curry, Green (it's really Green's team, he is the leader), Thompson, and Igoudala. These players will all be back, they are the core, they cannot be moved.

Durant says he is not leaving. So he will do one of three things: Keep his contract $28M, then Bird rights in 2019-20 (jumps 20% automatically to $32.5M then $38M to match Curry's) or take a 20% to $31.2M or a Max at $30.6M.

3. McCaw has shown he is a future 6 man rotation. He is not ready to carry Igoudala's load, but in two years he probably can. This is an example of a purchased 2nd round pick. Meyers bought the pick with cash, when they identified a player they thought could help the team. Do not be surprised if Meyer does it again.

4. McGee (close to both Durant and Green, but everyone like shim) and Clark (very close to Curry especially) are really popular on the team, especially with the core. The Warriors have to bring them back for cohesion. MacAdoo is a scrub, but not a negative player, and he's the third in that trio (he's also dirt cheap).

5. Pachulia, while a nice player, just is not worth the price tag. The Warriors will have to find another role player to fill his spot. Livingston's role has diminished. He is also an MLE, but it comes down to McGee is worth more to the team, and the combo of Clark and McCaw are taking over his role (Clark especially). Matt Barnes was an emergency add to fill some depth when Durant got hurt. He has fit in well, to many outside observer's surprise, and he could be back as depth garbage time veteran. David West is the X-factor. There is a rumor he will retire if the Warriors win the title. But they could use him next year. He has an especially strong chemistry with Clark, where he has about 1/3rd of his assists to him. West is also popular and they will try to get him to come back.

6. Jones has shown already much more athleticism than Looney, and this was a "red shirt" rookie year to get healthy after surgery. Looney's role has basically been absorbed by McGee, McCaw, and flashes of Jones. While Jones has been given a few garbage minutes, Looney has not. The Matt Barnes signing (another late season veteran minimum) shows the lack of development, that they needed a garbage time vet to fill his role.

What this looks like is the Warriors will not be able to pay Livingston (Clark replaces) or Pachulia (McGee replaces), and Looney flopped. Jones is unproven, but everyone knew 206-17 was a "red shirt" - but he already shows shot blocking ability at the NBA level. Barnes I don't see coming back. While a good fit, he simply doesn't play much D, and his shot is not what it was. But he ate some minutes they needed eaten. West they will push hard to come back for one final season. But they may sign him very late to make the cap numbers (a rookie minimum like Siakam would get is about $1M less than West counted against the cap)

Meyer knows the parameters, and he knows Lacob will allow him to go into luxury tax for a couple years for this group (they wont get in Cleveland cavalier level of luxury tax, but will dip in a couple million) -- they will have to reconfigure in 2020. Meyer knows what he has to do. He'll try to get Curry and Durant for the figures closer to $30M than $35M to make the budget, but if not, oh well. The moves are very obvious to anyone closely following the team.

The thing is depth is a problem. They cannot afford to have 5 non producing players. That is why Looney will be gone. Getting West back will help, but they will look for tow more minimum vets, maybe buy a 2nd round pick, and leave a spot for D-League guys to battle for a spot.

The NBA put in the super max and minimized the cap growth this coming year specifically to try and break the Warriors up. Lacob wont let that happen.