Chicago Bulls: Analyzing a LaMelo Ball-centric trade with the Warriors

Does this trade work for the Golden State Warriors?

There’s a lot to like about this trade for the Warriors, but luxury tax concerns may make this a non-starter.

Swartz states his case here:

"The Warriors could take in Young and Gafford without sending out any salary thanks to the Andre Iguodala trade exception ($17.2 million), and they could have their pick of at least one of James Wiseman, Onyeka Okongwu and Isaac Okoro at No. 4."

The Warriors would be taking on $15 million in salary and that would push their already hefty salary number $31.3 million into the luxury tax. On the plus side, the rookie scale for the fourth pick is $1.38 million cheaper than for the second pick, so we can comfortably say that they’ll be $30 million over the tax when free agency begins if they make this deal.

Considering they’re subject to the repeater tax as well, their tax bill could be as high as $115 million for next season if they don’t cut salary.

If the Warriors did make a deal like this, it’s probably a good indicator that they intend to dump Andrew Wiggins’s $29.5 million 2020-21 salary on a team with cap space, which means they’d need to attach multiple future draft picks.

Picking up Daniel Gafford would be a win for the Warriors as they are in need of a young big, as well as the utility of a slightly later and cheaper draft pick, but the luxury tax issues may be simply too much to overcome.

On the other hand, trading Gafford and the fourth overall pick straight up for the second overall pick does work, so maybe there’s something they could work with there.