While cutting Looney would be a glaring mistake for the Warriors to avoid, doing the same to Chris Paul’s $30 million non-guaranteed deal would not be considered one. In fact, retaining the 39-year-old at that number would be nothing short of irresponsible.
It appears Golden State will waive Paul in the coming weeks unless they sense Thompson is leaving, in which case they could guarantee the 12-time All-Star’s contract and pursue a trade to find an upgrade.
Either way, it’s highly unlikely that Paul will return to the Bay for a second season. Perhaps the franchise can convince him to return with a near-minimum deal in free agency, but he will likely head elsewhere and the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to be at the front of the line.
Losing Paul seems inevitable, which means the Warriors simply must have a plan to acquire a reasonable replacement. Minutes with Stephen Curry on the bench have often been a nightmare in recent years, and at least Paul made them bearable this season.
So where do the Warriors go? As impressive as he was in his rookie season, Golden State shouldn’t rely on second-year Brandin Podziemski to become a consistent backup point guard who can run an offense without Curry. When Jordan Poole failed to fill that role last season, Steve Kerr was forced to split up the Curry-Draymond Green combination to allow the latter to provide more of a playmaking presence on the second unit.
Golden State signed Cory Joseph as a third option last offseason, the type of player they can’t settle for this time around. They’ll have some options heading into free agency, but that’s no use if they can’t find a suitable replacement for Paul.
