The Golden State Warriors are bringing back veteran center Kristaps Porzingis on a two-year, $40 million contract with a player option on the second season, agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management told ESPN's Shams Charania.
Porzingis is extending his current contract, allowing him to negotiate and agree with the Warriors before hitting the open market on Tuesday afternoon. The Warriors acquired Porzingis at February's trade deadline from the Atlanta Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.
The Porzingis signing makes the math trickier for the Warriors to clear enough space to offer unrestricted free agent LeBron James the full $15.1 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception, but there remain paths for them to clear enough financial room, particularly given Draymond Green's decision to decline his $27.6 million player option and deliver the Warriors flexibility in the coming days.