Can the Golden State Warriors keep both Wiggins and Poole?

 After the Warriors won the championship, the value of all players on the team got a boost, especially the core players of the group, and the increase in value made the Warriors feel the pressure.

If the Warriors and Wiggins complete a contract extension, the Warriors will need to pay $185 million over five years, which shrinks the Warriors' payroll space significantly. And at this time, Poole also asked the team for the highest salary, which will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of keeping both simultaneously.

Poole asked for the highest salary.

Poole's side of the story has also recently come out, and in a previous article, we speculated that there was a perfect chance that Poole would choose to take a pay cut to stay with the Warriors. (Will Poole stay with the Warriors after winning the championship?)

But according to the latest news, Poole has surprised everyone by asking the team for the highest salary, which is the opposite of what we had previously speculated.

Why would Poole ask for the highest salary from the team?

Poole had previously told the media that he was willing to take a pay cut to stay with the Warriors, but now he has changed his attitude and asked management for a higher salary contract. Did something extraordinary happen during this time make Poole change his initial thoughts?

Before letting Wiggins stay in the Warriors, Poole said he was willing to take a pay cut to ease the team's payroll space. And this time changed their attitude because Poole learned that the Warriors intended to take him for a trade, which made Poole very dissatisfied and decided to pursue their own interests. This decision makes it very difficult for the Warriors right now, which means Poole and Wiggins have to go one way or the other.

Who is more worthy of a contract extension, Poole or Wiggins?

The most important thing the Warriors need to do if they want to continue to contend for a title in the new season is to preserve all of their starters. While Wiggins is the team's priority extension target, that's not to say that Poole doesn't have enough extension value. Poole wasn't traded away when free agency opened in hopes of keeping the young scoring player.

But at the moment, Poole's value is far from comparable to Wiggins'. Although he's had a perfect season, he's only worth about $20 million a year. At the same time, Wiggins' salary is about double that of his, which directly reflects the player's value in salary calculations.

Poole's defensive ability is passable on the defensive side, and he can only ensure that he won't make it easy for the other team to attack the outside. In contrast, Wiggins' steady defensive ability and rigid body will allow him to defend the opponent's strongest offensive player effectively.

On the offensive side, Poole's consistency is not enough; although there were many great performances in the playoffs, he was very much limited by the Celtics in the finals. Without Curry's strong offensive ability and Wiggins' steady defensive ability, Poole wouldn't have had the chance to show himself.

The only thing that makes Poole better than Wiggins is his age, he is 5 years younger than Wiggins, but there is no guarantee that he will grow up as an All-Star in the next 5 years. But Wiggins is now a very consistent All-Star starter and has a lot of room to grow.

It's almost impossible for the Warriors to keep Wiggins and Poole while keeping Curry, Thompson, and Green. In this case, the team has to give priority to Wiggins.

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