Warriors 2026 Salary Cap Tracker: How Much Room, Flexibility Do They Have This Offseason

The Golden State Warriors have an expensive roster that has a lot of needs.

In other words, they are not in salary-cap heaven.

This article is designed to give you up-to-date info on the Warriors' payroll total and how that affects their ability to sign their own free agents, use exceptions, etc.

Guaranteed Contracts

The Warriors have just six players guaranteed to be on the roster next season if they are not traded. They make up $144.4 million.

Stephen Curry: $62.6 million
Jimmy Butler: $56.8 million
Moses Moody: $12.5 million
Brandin Podziemski: $5.7 million
Gui Santos: $4.6 million
Will Richard: $2.2 million

The salary cap for 2026-27 is $165 million. So even if they renounced the rights of every other player on their roster and their three players with player options opted out, they wouldn't be able to go after the better free agents with cap space.

Once again, the Warriors will be operating as an over-the-cap team.

Player Options

The Warriors have three players with player options.

Draymond Green: $27.7 million
Al Horford: $6 million
De'Anthony Melton: $3.5 million

Green has already said he plans to decline the option to sign a multiyear deal. That would lower his 2026-27 cap total, which would help the Warriors avoid going above the first apron of $209 million (more on that later).

Horford has made no indication of his plans. The Warriors would love to have him back at his player-option price, but he could easily retire or decline it to go to a different contender.

Melton will be looking for a payday after playing the 2025-26 season for just $3.1 million. He will decline his player option. The Warriors don't have his Bird rights, which means they will have to use an exception to re-sign him.

Free Agents

The Warriors have seven free agents, listed below:

Kristaps Porzingis
Gary Payton II
Quinten Post (RFA)
Seth Curry
Pat Spencer (RFA)
Charles Bassey
Nate Williams (RFA)

The Warriors have Porzingis' Bird rights, which means they can exceed the salary cap to re-sign him.

Of the other six, Post is the only one who could get an offer above a minimum contract, and if he does, the Warriors can match it because he's a restricted free agent.

Current Cap Situation with Green Projection

We don't know exactly where Green's next contract will land, but we do know he won't be declining his player option just to leave, so we can safely assume he will be back. We'll but his 2026-27 salary at $18 million for now, which puts the Warriors at $162.4 million for seven players.

The key numbers to keep in mind are below:

Luxury tax: $201 million
1st Apron: $209 million
2nd Apron: $222 million

If the Warriors want to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception of up to $15 million on any free agent, they will be hard-capped at the first apron.

If the Warriors can't fit all of their salary commitments below the $209 million first apron, they can use the taxpayer mid-level exception of about $6 million on a free agent. That hard-caps them at the second apron.

If they can't fit all of their salary commitments below the $222 million second apron, then they won't be able to use either exception and will have to fill any remaining roster spots with minimum contracts.

How Porzingis' Contract Impacts Melton

At this point, you've probably heard that the Warriors might not be able to use the non-taxpayer mid-level exception to retain De'Anthony Melton. Here's why.

Every roster must have at least 14 standard contracts. If any of hose roster spots are unfilled, the roster will be charged a minimum contract cap hit of about $1.35 milion for each unused spot.

So let's say the Warriors re-sign Green and Porzingis and then renounce every free agent on their roster except Melton.

That would put them at eight contracts. Assuming they keep their 2026 first-round draft pick, that player will have about a $5 million salary for 2026-27.

Here is what their salary sheet will look like:

First six players: $144.4 million
Green: $18 million
2026 first-round draft pick: $5 million
Porzingis: Re-signed at amount discussed below
Four minimum cap holds: $5.4 million
Melton: Offer explained below

Before re-signing Porzingis, their payroll would be at $172.8 million. Let's say he signs for $21 million. The Warriors would be at $193.8 million. The Warriors would have almost exactly $15 million to use on Melton and stay under the first apron.

Voila!

The problem is the Warriors would have to fill out their roster with four rookie minimum contracts. They'd be so up against the first apron that they couldn't even sign a player with a year of NBA experience, let alone, say, Payton or Post.

This is why Porzingis' contract total will be so fascinating. For every million his 2026-27 salary is below $20 million, it improves the Warriors' chances of being able to fill out the rest of their roster with more experienced veteran minimums AND make Melton a competitive offer.