Warriors, Podziemski Agree To Five-Year Extension

Podziemski’s starting salary in the extension will be just slightly more than his cap hold would have been next offseason, ESPN’s Anthony Slater tweets. He’ll make $18.9MM next season and his extension includes maximum eight percent raises in ensuing seasons. That keeps his first-year salary less than $2MM above the $17MM cap hold.

As Spotrac contributor Keith Smith notes (Twitter link), Podziemski will make $20.5MM in 2028/29; $22.0MM in 2029/30; $23.5MM in 2030/31; and $25.0MM in his option year of 2031/32.

According to The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer (Twitter link), his trade kicker will be the lesser of $1MM and 15% of Podziemski’s unearned base compensation.

In Luke Adams’ latest Hoops Rumors’ Front Office post for subscribers, he ranked Podziemski as the second-most likely candidate among 19 players still eligible to sign an extension to reach an agreement. Now, that has come to fruition.

Podziemski joins the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, the Pistons’ Ausar Thompson, the Rockets’ Amen Thompson and the Jazz’s Keyonte George among eligible players to sign rookie-scale extensions this offseason.

As in the above cases, the Warriors averted a potential offseason distraction by locking up Podziemski before the Oct. 19 deadline. The versatile wing would have otherwise become a restricted free agent next summer.

Podziemski clearly has the trust of the Warriors’ staff, as he led the club in minutes played last season. He averaged 13.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 28.5 minutes per contest while appearing in all 82 games last season, including 43 starts. He’s shot 45.2% percent from the field and 37.5% from distance during his first three seasons.