NBA Free Agency: Decoding the 5 Steps To How The Warriors Ended Up With a Line-up of 5 All-Stars

Step 5: 2018 Off-Season

The Salary Cap spike that happened in 2016 offseason also led to many teams giving out really bad multi-million dollars to below average players named Deng, Noah, Mozgov and Parsons. The Cap eventually dried out and only a handful of teams could offer Cousins the max in 2018, who was coming off a major injury and was expected to be out for nearly half of upcoming season and thence wasn’t getting much interest from the teams.

To get back on track and get a max deal next offseason, Cousins decided to sign a 1-year - mini-mid level $5.3 million deal with none other than the Golden State Warriors creating a disparity in the NBA that was never seen before.

Summarising

Don’t blame the Warriors for ruining the NBA, they did everything the right way. It wouldn’t have happened if the NBPA had let the NBA salary cap to smooth out in 2016 off-season.

And did Kevin Durant did the right thing? Joining a team he was up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals, maybe he didn't. but isn’t a player allowed to choose what’s best for him?

Cousins didn’t get any offers, knew he was out for half of the season and decided to wait till next off-season in hope for a max. He decided to wait it out on the Warriors though, which sucks for us viewers, but seems like a good choice for him

Golden State won't last forever, every dynasty fails at some point, the Warriors will break too. Maybe because of the luxury tax, maybe out of boredom but when that is going to happen, is what we have to see.