The Long View · By the numbers

The Warriors' Numbers Describe a Team With No Margin Left

Golden State's payroll, its best lineup sample and its two return dates for December all say the same thing: nothing outside the roster is coming to fix this team before it plays a game.

By the Warriors Nightly Desk · Monday, September 28

Golden State opens camp with a payroll that leaves no room to add and a five-player lineup number too small to build a season on. The distance between what one lineup did in 65 minutes and what the whole roster did over 82 games last season is the real story before a game is played.

Warriors Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

$224.7 million, above the second apron

Golden State carries a payroll of $224.7 million across 18 contracts, above the league's second apron and well past the $200.4 million tax threshold. Curry's $62.6 million, Butler's $56.8 million, Green's $27.7 million and Porzingis' $19.5 million account for most of it. That number is why the only move before camp was signing rookie guard Miles Kelly, not a veteran.

+16.9 in eight games

The top five-player lineup Golden State ran last season, Curry, Green, Butler, Podziemski and Kuminga, outscored opponents by 16.9 points per 100 possessions. It did so across just eight games and 65 minutes. A different look, with Post and Moody starting over Podziemski and Kuminga, played 17 games and 125 minutes and finished at -6.5. Small samples cut both ways.

-0.5, and 19th on offense

A full season carries more weight than any five-player sample. Golden State finished 37-45 last season with a net rating of -0.5, an offense scoring 113.8 points per 100 possessions that ranked 19th in the league, and a defense at 114.4 that ranked 16th. That baseline, not one lineup's 65 minutes, is what training camp has to beat.

December 1, twice

Moses Moody and Jimmy Butler III share the same return estimate for their knee injuries, December 1, on opposite legs. Neither will play in October, so the roster the preseason shows off is not the one that has to close the gap between -0.5 and respectable. Whatever camp answers, Podziemski, Green and Melton will have to provide them first.

How far over the salary cap are the Warriors?

Golden State's payroll is $224.7 million across 18 contracts, above the second apron and above the $200.4 million tax threshold.

When do Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody return?

Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody are each recovering from knee injuries, with an estimated return date of December 1 for both.

By the Warriors Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.