With Golden State’s most recent signings, they’ve been able to fill out their roster with some much-needed help: Nemanja Bjelica and Otto Porter Jr. join the team on minimum salaries, bringing very good shooting, solid defense, and rebounding – if they can remain healthy. The Warriors still have one trick left in the bag in their taxpayer mid-level exception, allowing them to sign another player to a $5.9 million contract to pick up some insurance.

The problem arises, as The Athletic’s Warriors writer Anthony Slater pointed out on the radio this week, in how much the Dubs will actually have to spend if they sign another free agent using the TMLE:

“I’m not sure there’s another guy out there that they would use it on… Unless like Dennis Schroeder is like so spurned by this Lakers situation... I could see them maybe not using it, to be honest.” -Slater (via 95.7 “The Game”)

The logic behind what Slater’s saying makes sense. The Warriors would have to pay an extra $45 million in luxury tax in order to use the TMLE, and recently GM Bob Meyers stated that there was a limit to their spending. Given the current salary situation with the team’s roster, the spend would be north of $400 million, a historic number and would incur the hard cap. They also just gave Steph Curry a well-deserved 4-year extension worth $216 million, so unless there’s somebody left in free agency that they feel could be the missing piece to give them championship aspirations, it’s highly unlikely they make that spend without the confidence that they’ll be at the top of contention.

The market seems to be dwindling after a wild first three days anyways. The Warriors did trade forward Eric Paschall earlier today to the Jazz for a second-round pick, which could be seen as a move to dump some salary in order to pick up one of the remaining guards still on the market while staying under the hard cap, but it’s unclear who they could pick up with it. So far, veteran guards such as Reggie Jackson, Dennis Schroeder, and Lou Williams are all still available, and all of them have a case to join the Warriors (mostly the shot at chasing a ring). Regardless, the current roster could be what the Warriors start the season with, banking on the team’s health, Jordan Poole to remain consistent, draftees Moody and Kuminga being NBA-ready, and James Wiseman making the jump out the gate.

Regardless of whether the Warriors use their taxpayer MLE, the team will be stronger than it was last year. The second half of the season last year proved that the Warriors are competitive with some of the top teams in the West while shorthanded, and with a roster that had a number of holes filled by both the draft and recent signings, they should be poised for contention either way.