Warriors general manager Bob Myers is prone to what he calls "work benders," stretches of days — sometimes even weeks — when sleep is minimal.

And no period of the league calendar is more chaotic for Myers than free agency. With the negotiating window set to open at 9 p.m. Saturday, he doesn’t expect to get a day off until he rounds out Golden State’s roster.

"That could be end of July, or it could be beginning of August," Myers said recently. "We’ll see."

In the meantime, Myers will sacrifice sleep to work through a lengthy to-do list. After making decisions on their seven free agents, the Warriors must get creative, bolstering their depth despite having limited resources to add talent.

The stakes aren’t nearly as high as last year, when Golden State had 10 free agents, including Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. But with plenty of teams eager to dethrone them, the Warriors recognize that mistakes in July could hurt their chances of hoisting another Larry O’Brien trophy next June.

"The league is always going to be competitive," Myers said. "Whether we’re good or not, the league’s going to come after us — or any team, for that matter, which is what it should be."

Myers’ most pressing matter is re-signing Durant, who opted out of his contract Friday to become an unrestricted free agent.

There is no doubt that he will ink a maximum deal with Golden State in the coming days. The question, however, is the length of his contract.

Durant, who took a $9 million pay cut last summer so the Warriors could retain Livingston and Iguodala, will try to maximize his earning potential given the state of the projected salary cap. There is no incentive for Durant to take less than a max contract because signing it wouldn’t affect how the Warriors would flesh out their roster this summer.

Given that he has early Bird rights, Durant is restricted to a four-year deal, not five. A four-year contract would have him earning $158.3 million — $35.3 million in 2018-19, with an annual increase of roughly $2.8 million — through the 2021-22 season.

Durant instead could sign a short-term max contract. It might make sense for him to ink a three-year deal with a player option after the second season, which would have him re-entering free agency when the salary cap is expected to jump an estimated $11 million in 2020.

Under that scenario, a 31-year-old Durant could have two lucrative options: sign a five-year, $228 million contract with Golden State, or a four-year, $170 million deal elsewhere. Durant would be eligible for a no-trade clause in 2020 with the Warriors, something the front office showed last summer with Curry that it is reluctant to include.

It is also possible that Durant would rather sign a one-year contract with a player option for the second season. According to ESPN’s front-office insider, Bobby Marks, Durant would lose $5 million in salary for 2018-19, but have full Bird rights to ink a five-year deal in summer 2019.

Such an option might intrigue Durant, given that the salary cap is expected to spike from $101 million in 2018-19 to $108 million in 2019-20. That would position him for a five-year, $219 million contract next summer, which could go down as the largest deal in NBA history.

"I’d love to have him for 10 years," Myers said of Durant. "But, Kevin Durant, look at what he did last year for us. He did us a great service. He’s earned the right to sign whatever deal he wants.”

Golden State has four free agents in the latter stages of their careers — Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Nick Young and David West — who could seemingly be re-signed on the cheap. However, the Warriors probably don’t want to re-sign four players who played limited roles in the playoffs just for two things the team already has in abundance: championship experience and locker-room leadership.

Golden State will almost surely say farewell to Pachulia and Young. West, who at 37 was one of the Warriors’ best bench players in the regular season, will weigh retirement. If he decides he wants to play another season, the Warriors might welcome him back on a minimum deal.

The biggest unknown is McGee, who was a factor in the NBA Finals after months spent shuttling in and out of the rotation.

Though McGee has said that he’d be open to returning on a minimum contract, Golden State might prefer to give his minutes to Damian Jones, a developmental project who warrants an expanded role next season. However, few could fault the Warriors for bringing back a player with McGee’s physical tools at a low cost.

What Golden State decides to do with McGee might depend on whether it can re-sign Kevon Looney. At 22 with an ability to guard all five positions, Looney is the type of young, small-ball center prized in the modern NBA. The problem for the Warriors is that, because they declined his fourth-year option, it can offer him only $2.2 million.

Looney is reportedly set to command in the neighborhood of $3 million to $4 million in unrestricted free agency. It is unclear how willing Looney, who made his first postseason appearance this year after two seasons derailed by injury, would be to turn down bigger offers for more championship runs with Golden State.

Another big question is what the Warriors do with Patrick McCaw. Golden State, which made McCaw a restricted free agent by extending him a qualifying offer of $1.7 million, has the right to match any offer McCaw receives from other teams.

If another franchise offers McCaw significantly more than their qualifying offer, the Warriors might have to make a difficult decision. McCaw is coming off a disappointing season that included a scary spine injury that sidelined him nearly two months. But given his age, length, versatility and upside, the 22-year-old swingman could develop into a key building block for Golden State.

With more than a half-dozen free agents of their own, the Warriors expect to take a week or two before they engage other teams’ free agents in talks.

For a franchise as deep into the luxury tax as Golden State, the taxpayer mid-level exception is an important resource. Last season, the Warriors used the mid-level of $5.2 million on Young, only for Young to oscillate in and out of the rotation.

The good news for Golden State is that this summer’s free-agent class is loaded with proven rotation players who should be available at the mid-level. Some potential options include Avery Bradley, Tyreke Evans, Rudy Gay, Trevor Ariza and J.J. Redick.

The Warriors also have a minimum exception, which they can use to round out the back end of their rotation.

Perhaps there will be another West-type — an established journeyman in search of his first championship — willing to take a major pay cut to chase a ring with Golden State. Anthony Tolliver, Nerlens Noel, Joe Harris and Lance Stephenson, among others, could be open to signing with the Warriors on a minimum contract.

"It’s hard to predict what those guys want to do," said Myers, who is admittedly looking forward to some much-needed rest next month. "A lot of it has to do with what guys want to come back."

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron