Projecting Landing Spots for Warriors' Top Free Agents | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Chris Paul technically holds a $30 million salary for next season, per Spotrac, but not a cent of it is guaranteed and won't be until late June.

No matter how much the Warriors have appreciated the presence of the point god, it's virtually impossible to envision them bringing him back at that price. The only way that could maybe work is if they want to retain his salary slot for money-matching purposes in a major deal, but who's giving up anything of substance to pay Paul that kind of coin for his age-39 season?

Paul should be prepared for a sizable pay cut, and depending on how deep it goes, he could wind up running it back with the Dubs. They haven't closed the door on keeping him at the proverbial "right price," and while his scoring and defense aren't what they used to be, he's still a wizard when it comes to running an offense (6.9 assists against 1.3 turnovers).

All of that said, it's tough to envision Golden State offering him the best combination of pay rate and play rate. The Warriors have a wealth of other guards to work into their rotation, and they might want to free up more backcourt minutes for the likes of Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody. Paul can likely sniff out a bigger role elsewhere and be better compensated for it.