Updated

Updated · ESPN · Jul 6

Quinten Post Signs 3-Year, $30 Million Grizzlies Offer Sheet as Warriors Face Tuesday Match Deadline

Updated

Updated · ESPN · Jul 6

Quinten Post Signs 3-Year, $30 Million Grizzlies Offer Sheet as Warriors Face Tuesday Match Deadline

Q: How does the NBA's new salary cap make a $10M role player too expensive for a contender?

A $10 million role player can be too expensive for a contender because, under the NBA’s new CBA, the real cost is not just salary — it is the roster-building restrictions that come with crossing the apron lines. For teams like Golden State, which already carry expensive cores and are hard-capped by other moves, matching Quinten Post’s three-year, $30 million offer sheet is not a simple talent decision. A $10 million annual deal takes up scarce room below the apron and can limit the club’s ability to finish the roster, re-sign key players such as Draymond Green, or preserve flexibility for bigger targets. The new system is designed to punish high spenders with lost tools, not just tax bills. Once a team gets above the first or second apron, it can lose access to key exceptions used to sign mid-tier players, face tighter trade rules, lose the ability to take back extra salary, and in the harshest cases risk future draft-pick penalties. That means a useful rotation player in the $8 million to $12 million range can block multiple other moves. For a contender, that is the squeeze. Stars still get paid, minimum players are still available, but the middle class has become harder to keep. Post may be worth $10 million on the court, especially as a floor-spacing center, but for the Warriors the question is whether that salary is worth the flexibility it costs under the apron system.

3 articles · Updated · ESPN · Jul 6

Three years and $30 million would send restricted free agent Quinten Post to Memphis unless Golden State matches by 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Memphis targeted the 24-year-old center for his rare stretch-big profile and defensive improvement after he hit 73 3-pointers at nearly 41% in 42 rookie games.
Golden State gave Post a $2.6 million qualifying offer but may balk at the higher price while hard-capped at the second apron and juggling other roster priorities.
Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis already sit ahead of Post in the Warriors' frontcourt, reinforcing signs the team could let its 2024 No. 52 pick walk.
An unmatched deal would be unusual: no player has changed teams via an offer sheet since Bogdan Bogdanovic's 4-year, $72 million Hawks pact in 2020.