Andris Biedrins has chosen to return to the Bay Area next season — for $9 million.

The Golden State Warriors won legions of new fans with their enthralling playoff performances this postseason. Media and fans gushed over their young core of Steph Curry, Klay Thomson and Harrison Barnes and whether the team can improve again next season.

Well, that improvement will have to come from players already on the roster.

Big man Andris Biedrins will reportedly opt-in to the final year of his contract. His $54 million, six-year contract is one of the worst in the league and although fans hoped he would opt out and become a free agent, Biedrins will elect to stick around the Bay Area for one more season.

On top of Biedrins’ $9 million, Brandon Rush will want to play next year after missing the season while he recovers from surgery. Richard Jefferson holds an $11 million player option for next season that he will presumably exercise rather than take a lower deal on the open market.

This leaves Golden State heavily over the cap and paying the punitive luxury tax before they have even entertained bringing back free agents Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, two veterans who played key roles in this playoff run. They have to figure all of this out without the benefit of the Amnesty provision which they exercised to cut Charlie Bell last summer in their futile attempt to woo DeAndre Jordan from Los Angeles.

The silver lining is that the Warriors figure to have plenty of cap space going into the summer of 2014 when the free agency is shaping up to be a frenzy.

Mark Jackson will have to show more coaching nous to coax greater production from his young core and hope the front office can find a way to fill in the gaps with players on smaller contracts.

April 26, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard (12) moves to the basket against the defense of San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the first half in game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

What if Iron Man and Batman were buddies? What if my cats didn’t fight all the time? What if I was just a little bit taller? And as long as I am thinking about things that would just make life better what if the Golden State Warriors added Dwight Howard to their young, exciting, and now ESPN and TNT approved roster?

According to RealGM and Slam, prized Free Agent and one-man play Dwight Howard is reputedly adding the Golden State Warriors to his list of possible destinations. That the Warriors even made it to the hypothetical conversation speaks volumes for how far the franchise has come in the course of a single season. The last free agent I remember even considering Golden State was probably Drew Gooden. Maybe Josh Howard. Suffice it to say, not exactly the cream of the crop. Sadly, this wonderful scenario seems unlikely for many reasons, not the least of which is the almost zero flexibility the Warriors have against the salary cap and the proven and objective fact that the Lakers get what they want when they want it.

But on the other hand, this is the kind of fan-fiction type move that should have both diehard hoopsters and casual fans salivating, assuming Dwight regains his standing as the league’s foremost game-changing big man. The addition of a big with the proven dominance of Howard would change everything for the Warriors, who have tethered their hopes to a gritty but often broken Andrew Bogut and the resilience of the undersized tandem of Draymond Green and Carl Landry. Mark Jackson would be wise to employ a sort of four-out strategy that Stan Van Gundy pulverized the league with for a few years, four shooters and a prowling leviathan. I daresay Stephen Curry might even be an upgrade from Jameer Nelson.

Still, for the Warriors to have even a shot at signing Dwight they would have to clean house and probably exile David Lee to some rebuilding team in need of a pleasant demeanor and frequent double-doubles. Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins, and Andrew Bogut also all make more than they probably should at this stage in their careers, but they would all be hard-sells for different reasons. In short, this is leverage and the Lakers will double-down on their attempts to re-sign Dwight to keep him from the grubby hands of the upstart Warriors (a division rival) who are so clearly missing exactly what the All-Star center brings to the table. The Warriors will continue to gamble with their platoon of flawed bigs and the curse of the Lakers 2012-13 season will begin to recede. The Warriors could conceivably trot out a starting line-up of Stephen Curry, Brandon Rush, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Dwight Howard and while purists might not like the lack of size or the fairly high possibility of complete playoff implosion, artists must surely appreciate the dream of beautiful punishment that team could mete out on a nightly basis.

But hey, as long as they are dreaming, the Warriors should probably go out and get Josh Smith also.