Shaun Livingston has spent the last three seasons with the Golden State Warriors, and with his free agency fast approaching, he isn’t ready for the ride to end.
From CSN Bay Area’s Monte Poole:
Though the Warriors are in no position to make a commitment beyond this season, there is no questioning the wishes of veteran guard Shaun Livingston.
Though he’ll be a free agent next summer, he wants to return to the Warriors. Moreover, he wants to remain a Warrior for as long as he is an active NBA player.
“That would be ideal, right?” Livingston said Wednesday on the Warriors Insider Podcast. “For me, that would be ideal.
“But you just have to wait and see. I’d love to be here. I’d love to, honestly, finish my career here in the Bay. It’s been a great ride, a great three years. If the opportunity presented itself and (there are) similar offers out there, I’d love to come back.”
The Warriors, in a vacuum, won’t want to get rid of Livingston. He doesn’t fit the mold of their three-point-happy model, but they have enough shooters. He can post-up, drive, orchestrate the offense and defend even some power forwards.
The financial implications of retaining him, however, will be real. He is earning just over $5.5 million this season. Some team will probably offer him at least double that to join their cause—a price the Warriors may not be willing to pay given the luxury-tax ramifications they’ll incur after presumably re-signing Kevin Durant (player option) and Stephen Curry.
Oakland is where Livingston basically saved his career, so maybe he’ll give the Warriors a “hometown” discount. But he won’t be taking the veteran’s minimum. That would be an absurd steal. So while there’s no way of knowing right now if the Warriors will pay whatever it takes to keep him, we do know that Livingston, along with Andre Iguodala, will force the team to make some tough decisions this July.
