The buzz around the NBA today is all about the Warriors players’ contract extensions. Andrew Wiggins’ salary is also restructured.
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All-Star guard Andrew Wiggins is the latest to agree to a deal. But unlike Jordan Poole’s mammoth deal, his is substantially smaller. In fact, when he initially signed an extension with the Warriors, he was getting paid more.
Now, the organization has asked him to restructure his deal and he has politely obliged. While many Warriors fans will see this as a huge team move, we think Wiggins should have stuck to his original terms.
The latest extension makes his deal smaller, by a big margin. This year alone, he will make almost $10 million less than what he was making last year. $9.3 million to be precise. That is a big drop for a player who was an all-star starter last year.
And questions surrounding the stark differences in deals between his and Jordan Poole’s will rise. We think he should have made more than Poole.
Andrew Wiggins is taking a salary cut on a four-year, $109 million extension to stay with the Warriors. He’s making $33.6 million this season. It’ll drop to $24.3 million, $26.3 million in first/second year of new deal. Warriors gave him player option in final year of extension.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 15, 2022
Andrew Wiggins’ salary should be higher than Jordan Poole’s
So, the Warriors are going to pay a hefty amount in luxury tax. Their smarts have helped them get a core of players that every team would want. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, and Jordan Poole, and that’s just five players.
They signed them all to small deals initially but as they blossomed, they are rightfully getting paid more. Wiggins’ latest deal is a questionable one. We think he is the only one who is compromising on his end. Sure, it looks good on paper. 4-years $109 million, looks good right?
But reading the fine print, we can see that he will make far less this year than he did last year. the drop is approximately 30%. Unacceptable we think.
While Poole might have performed some heroics to justify his earnings and surely, making more than an all-star starter is not justifiable. In fact, Jordan Poole’s first-year salary of $31.25 million is more than all of Andrew Wiggins’ salary. In all four years.
Just take a peek at their statistics from last season, and you start to get a feeling the Warriors might have made a small error.
How will the Golden State Warriors fare this season?
With the extensions in mind, the expectations from the Warriors could not be higher this season. With less than 3 days to go, everyone expects the Warriors to go deep into the playoffs and repeat this season.
While it is justifiable. There is no guarantee that it will happen. All signs are pointing to another dominant performance this season. The Warriors despite all their flaws are firing on all cylinders.
But the season hasn’t started and being last year’s champion doesn’t mean that others will just step aside. In fact, the challenge this year could not be greater. Almost every single known star is now healthy and the 2022-23 season could be one for the books.
As for Andrew Wiggins’ salary, we think he should get more. But let’s let his on-court performance talk more about it than us.
Also read: Jordan Poole’s Extension is Not a $140 Million Guaranteed – It’s About $17 Million Less!
