Hoops Rumors examines the 2026 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s moves in the offseason and take a look at what else could happen before the regular season begins. Today we focus on Golden State Warriors.
Signing free agents
- Draymond Green: One year, $27,678,571. Full warranty. Includes trade kicker (15%). Rewritten using the rights of Bird. They gave up the right of veto on trade.
- Al Horford: Two years, $13,985,100. Second year player option. Includes trade kicker (15%). Re-signed using non-Bird rights.
- De’Anthony Melton: Two years, $12,431,200. Second year player option. Re-signed using the mid-level taxpayer exemption.
- Gary Payton II: Year, minimum wage. Full warranty. Rewritten using minimum wage exemption.
- George Niang: Year, minimum wage. Partially Guaranteed ($1,838,009). Signed using the minimum wage exemption.
- Charles Bassey: Year, minimum wage. Partially guaranteed ($1.4 million). Rewritten using minimum wage exemption. They gave up the right of veto on trade.
- Brandon Williams: Year, minimum wage. Not guaranteed. Signed using the minimum wage exemption.
- Dalen Terry: Year, minimum wage. Unguaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using the minimum wage exemption.
- Alex Toohey: Year, minimum wage. Not guaranteed (app. 9/10). Signed using the minimum wage exemption.
Trades
Drafts
- 1-11: Yaksel Landeborg
- Signed rookie contract (four years, $28,102,847). The first two years with a guarantee. Third and fourth year team options.
- 2-54: Laja Jones
Two-sided signatures
Note: Warriors moved Al G Krier and Malevy Leon on bilateral contracts from 2025/26.
Abandoned/Unsigned Free Agents
Other moves are listed
- Signed Kristaps Porzingis to a two-year, $40,000,000 veteran contract extension that begins in 2026/27. Second-year player option ($3 million partially guaranteed).
Salary cap situation
Note: Numbers are rounded to one decimal place.
- Acts above the first apron ($209 million) and below the second tax ($221.7 million).
- A hard hat on the second apron.
- Team salary: $220.8 million (tax); $221.3 million (apron).
- Above the luxury tax line by $20.4 million; over the first apron for $12.3 million; below the second apron by $348,000.
- One excluded player who was traded, frozen/unavailable ($2.2 million).
Offseason yet
After a disappointing, injury-plagued 2025/26 season in which Jimmy Butler tore his ACL, Stephen Curry missed extended time due to runner’s knee and Moses Moody ruptured the patellar tendon, Steve Kerr contemplated leaving his position as the longtime head coach of the Warriors.
However, after several weeks to decide his next steps, Kerr, whose contract expired, is back with a new one a two-year deal. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported at the time that Kerr would remain the NBA’s highest-paid head coach.
While Kerr will return to the lineup for the 13th straight season, his coaching staff will look a little different. Former assistant head coach Terry Stotts and No. 2 asst Jerry Stackhouse their contracts were also running out and broke up with the team to take over as head coach. Golden State was reportedly in “advanced“talks to the recruiter Willie Green to be the new top assistant but was hired by Dallas; instead, the Warriors hired Frank Vogelwho spent last season with the Mavericks.
After learning that Kerr would return, the Warriors turned their attention to revamping their roster after a 37-45 season. They entered the offseason with 10 potential free agents, one of the most in the league.
Golden State controlled two picks — Nos. 11 and 54 — in the 2026 draft and used those picks to add the former Michigan star Yaksel Landeborg and former Florida State wing Laja Jones.
Landeborg helped the Warriors to the Las Vegas Summer League title, winning the Summer League MVP in the process. The 6-foot-9 forward quickly signed with Golden State, but Jones, the 54th overall pick, did not sign ahead of training camp, which will held in Hawaii again this year.
ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported that Kerr was on top Braden Burris and “groaned audibly” when the Bucks selected the former Arizona guard at No. 10, one pick ahead of Golden State. However, Kerr also thinks highly of Landeborg and is open to the idea of making the rookie a starter if he earns it in training camp and before the season begins.
“This is such a necessary position,” Kerr told ESPN. “Then just its positional size. We’re in a position now where we can think about development and not just for Yaxel, but for our whole group. We’re not in the (championship) conversation. So let’s see what we can do as a group to rebuild what we stand for and how we work and new beginnings in many ways. All of that is very exciting to me. And Yaxel is a big part of that.”
Shortly after being drafted, the veteran is a big man Al Horford — one of three Warriors who controlled player options for 2026/27 — opted out of his $5.97 million option to re-sign with Golden State on a two-year, $14 million deal that includes a second-year option and a 15% trade kicker.
The second free agent domino to fall is an acquisition at the trade deadline Kristaps Porzingiswho was limited to 32 combined appearances for Atlanta and Golden State last season. The Latvian center technically bypassed free agency by signing a two-year, $40 million extension on the last day he was eligible to do so (June 30).
Importantly, Porzingis’ second-year player option is only partially guaranteed at $3 million, giving the Warriors some insurance next summer in case the health issues persist.
After the Warriors agreed to re-sign the contract De’Anthony Melton on a two-year, $12.4M deal (he declined a $3.45M option for 2026/27) and returned Charles Bassey under a minimum wage contract in early July, their offseason was put on hold for several weeks until LeBron James has decided which team he wants to join in free agency.
Golden State did early efforts recruit Jacob, p Draymond GreenCurry and the governor Joe Lacob participation in these efforts. However, the team was pessimistic in the weeks leading up to James’ decision, and he ended up signing with the Sixers, who he believed had more of a championship advantage.
With James sidelined, Green signed a one-year, $27.68 million contract — essentially the exact terms of his player option, which he waived to give the Warriors a chance to pursue LeBron. Golden State also ended its deal with Melton, which severely limited the team on the second tax bracket when it used part of the taxpayers’ mid-level exemption.
The Warriors chose not to match the slickly crafted offer sheet the Grizzlies gave the restricted free agent center Quinten post due to cap/apron issues. Bessie appears to be the favorite to be the third center on a team with a veteran forward George Niang — a free agent who missed all of last season with a foot injury — is another option in the frontcourt.
Other steps on the list included re-signing Gary Payton II on veteran minimum bargaining; signing a free agent guard Brandon Williams on a non-guaranteed salary; and addition Dalen Terry and Alex Toohey under non-guaranteed fee contracts. In addition to the Post, let the Warriors Pat Spencer to sign a two-way deal with Phoenix rather than give him a qualifying offer to make him restricted, while Seth Curry and Nate Williams remain unsigned.
Next
The Warriors spent most of the off-season ahead of the 2026/27 campaign. They are just $348K under the second apron cap, with 12 players on standard guaranteed contracts, Bessie and Niang partially guaranteed, and Williams on a standard non-guaranteed deal.
Golden State can trade Williams for a player like Terry or Toohey if they want to. Another option would be to waive all three players and sign Jones to a minimum standard rookie contract. However, that wouldn’t give the Warriors much financial flexibility or a general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr said the team plans to open the season with 15 regular-season players, regardless of who makes the final cut.
A more likely outcome would be Williams claiming the final standard roster spot and Jones claiming the open two-way spot in Golden State. Other two-way players Al G Krier and Malevy Leonwhich have been carried over from 2025/26. For what it’s worth, Summer League big man Graham Ike also mentioned as a two-way candidate.
The only significant uncertainty looming over Golden State’s offseason is whether Stephen Curry will sign a veteran contract extension ahead of the 2026-27 campaign or wait to potentially give himself and the team more flexibility ahead of next summer, when the Warriors could have a ton of cap space.
Curry has consistently expressed his desire to end his career with the only franchise he’s ever known, but recently offered he is in no rush to sign an extension ahead of potential free agency in 2027. For their part, the Warriors are reportedly willing to give the 38-year-old guard any contract he wants up to his max.
Another candidate for expansion Brandin undergroundwho is entering the fourth year of his rookie contract. Unlike Curry, who will be eligible for an extension through June 30, 2027, Podzemski will close on Oct. 19, the day before the regular season begins.
If Podzemski does not sign an extension this offseason, he will be on the path to restricted free agency in 2027 if he is offered a qualifying offer. Dunleavy has publicly stated that keeping the former 19th overall pick is a priority for the organization.
The Warriors are banking on Landeborg bringing youth to one of the league’s oldest rosters. When Butler and Moody will return to action remains an open question, but Golden State has several players on short-term contracts and is a team to keep an eye on in the trade market ahead of the February deadline.
LuKe Adams contributed to this article.
