Just How Much Money Did Zaza Pachulia Sacrifice To Sign With The Warriors?

Zaza Pachulia
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When the Golden State Warriors signed Kevin Durant, it gave them a tremendous starting lineup featuring two of the league’s top five players in Durant and Steph Curry. However, it also put them into a money crunch, which led to Harrison Barnes leaving and Andrew Bogut being traded. In order to fill out their lineup, they needed to try and get some good players on the cheap, and they have, including Zaza Pachulia. Pachulia’s deal was particularly surprising, and it becomes even more surprising when you find out the kind of deal he could have potentially signed.

Pachulia ended up signing with the Warriors for a mere $3 million on a one-year contract. Before that, though, he was in talks with the Washington Wizards. As reported by J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic, the Wizards had the chance to sign Pachulia for two years and $20 million, but they decided they didn’t want to bite on that deal, and Pachulia then headed to the Warriors on his cheap one-year deal.

That’s a massive difference in salary for Pachulia, who likely could have found a deal somewhere between the $20 million contract with the Wizards and the $3 million one he ended up signing. However, going to the Warriors means that Pachulia is now on the team that is the favorite to win the title, and clearly that was much more important to him than money.

(Via CSN Mid-Atlantic)

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