Brandin Podziemski agreed to a five-year, $110 million extension with Golden State on Saturday, per Shams Charania. The rookie-scale deadline is October 19 and the Warriors got in under it with the one player they were always going to pay.
Take the deal on its own and it is defensible. A 23-year-old guard who can pass, rebound from the backcourt and hold up defensively, locked up through the end of the decade at $22 million a year, is reasonable business in a cap environment where that is what starters cost.
Now Put It Next to the Summer
Golden State pursued Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is in Miami. It pursued Jaylen Brown. He is in Philadelphia. It pursued LeBron James. He is also in Philadelphia, on a reported two-year, $8 million deal, which means price was not the obstacle.
So the single largest commitment the Warriors made in this cycle is $110 million to a fourth-year guard. Not a second star next to Stephen Curry. Not a swing on a disgruntled All-NBA forward. A long-term bet on a complementary piece.
Earlier in the offseason, Draymond Green re-signed. Jimmy Butler is still rehabbing an ACL he tore on January 19. Moses Moody ruptured a patellar tendon in March. Steve Kerr is still the coach. That is the roster.
The Timing Was Almost Cruel
The Podziemski news broke the same day Curry’s interview with Bonta Hill of NBC Sports Bay Area published, the one where he was asked about criticism of the front office and answered, “I’m not an idiot.”
Curry is 38 and played 43 of 82 games last season. The team finished 37-45, won a play-in game and lost the next one 111-96 to Phoenix. He has four titles and has never held the organization hostage. He gets one more realistic shot at a contender, and the summer’s answer was a five-year extension for a guard who has not made an All-Star team.
What the Deal Actually Signals
That Golden State has stopped shopping and started building for whatever comes after Curry. You do not hand out five-year money to a 23-year-old if you believe a win-now trade is one phone call away. You do it when you are hedging against the next era.
Front offices are allowed to do that. Most of them should. The problem is doing it while the franchise player is still here and still being told in public that the negativity is imagined.
The Fair Verdict
Good contract, bad summer. Podziemski at $22 million a year will age fine and might look like a bargain by 2029.
Curry will be 41 in 2029. That is the whole argument, and no extension fixes it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.