The Golden State Warriors and Brandin Podziemski agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract extension on Saturday, according to multiple reports. That deal will keep the former No. 19 overall pick in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future.
Podziemski, 23, averaged 13.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game last season on 45.5/37.1/79.7 shooting splits, appearing in all 82 games for the Warriors. Podziemski has been a rare hit for the Warriors in recent drafts, and they will reward him with a handsome contract extension that gives both sides some stability going forward.
For Podziemski, he likely looked at the restricted free-agent landscape and saw how declining an extension and hitting the RFA market has gone poorly for many in recent years. With more than $100 million on the table, he gladly signed on the dotted line and will not have to stress over whether he'd have any interest from the larger free agency market next summer.
With their eyes on one last championship pursuit with Stephen Curry, the Warriors have been trying to maintain as much financial flexibility as possible, which is why an extension for Podziemski raised some eyebrows when the news emerged.
Warriors maintain flexibility for possible roster upgrades
Curry, 38, agreed to a less-than-max extension earlier this offseason to help clear additional room for the Warriors next summer to make some needed roster upgrades. For many, the initial reaction to seeing Podziemski's contract number was to wonder how much of that space Curry helped clear that Podziemski's deal would eat up.
However, his cap hold for next summer was set to be $17 million and the first year of his new deal will reportedly start at $18.9 million, meaning they only shaved $1.9 million off their available space. For the Warriors, that's a minimal loss of flexibility, while ensuring the price of Podziemski's next deal wouldn't increase if he had a breakout year in 2026-27.
And because his extension won't kick in until next summer, Podziemski's new deal also won't impact the Warriors' financial situation if they wanted to explore making a move at the trade deadline this season. It does provide a bit of clarity on their backcourt plans for the future with Podziemski alongside Curry, and the most notable thing with the extension is that it would likely preclude Podziemski from being included in any deadline deals.
Golden State can still clear $60 million in cap space next summer if it wants to with Kristaps Porzingis' $20 million deal only guaranteed for $3 million. However, that roster would include only seven players and wouldn't include the cap holds of Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green's. How they handle Green and Butler's impending free agency will determine exactly how much they have to spend next summer, but Podziemski's extension won't have a significant impact on that, other than confirming they can count on him as part of their long-term roster plans.
