A little more than two weeks ago, Stephen Curry gave Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the Golden State Warriors‘ brass the public OK to not make any “desperate” trades in a future-compromising effort to give him one more shot to compete for a title. It was all the backing the front office needed to remain committed to the next era of Warriors basketball rather than be forced into taking a wild swing to falsely extend this one.
Now, as Thursday’s trade deadline fast approaches amid a flurry of absolutely wild activity (notably Luka Doncic‘s jaw-dropping trade to the Lakers and De’Aaron Fox heading to the Spurs), the Warriors appear to be doing the one thing Curry told them not to do.
After missing on Zach LaVine, who had been strongly connected to them in the rumor mill before he wound up in Sacramento in the Fox deal, and reportedly cooling on Jimmy Butler talks after they were informed Butler would not sign an extension with them, the Warriors, in the words of ESPN’s Shams Charania, are “legitimately making calls on every All-Star player.”
Charania then went on to say: “Name an All-Star player, the Warriors have probably called about him.” He then cited Paul George, Kevin Durant, and even LeBron James — here we go with this fairy tale again — as Warriors targets. “They are dead set on trying to find another superstar player [to put] with Stephen Curry.”
Are the Warriors feeling left out of all the excitement? What’s with the sudden urgency? Where was all this when they were clinging to James Wiseman like their first-born child? When they cast Brandin Podziemski in “The Untouchables” reboot?
The Warriors have been acting all this time like they’re so much smarter than everyone else, like they don’t need to get into the star-chasing rat race because their system and culture and genius braintrust puts them above all that. Joe Lacob literally said they are “light years ahead of probably every other team in structure, in planning, in how we’re going to go about things.”
Turns out, not so much. Turns out, when the Timberwolves don’t pass on Curry twice, and Draymond Green doesn’t drop to you in the second round, and you don’t stumble into one of the biggest bargain contracts of all time thanks to Curry’s career-threatening ankle issues, and you don’t swing and miss on Dwight Howard only to wind up with Andre Iguodala, and Kevin Durant doesn’t just happen to become a free agent during the biggest cap spike in history after you just blew a 3-1 Finals lead, when all of that good fortune runs out, the Warriors are left throwing the same you know what against the wall as everyone else.
And none of it has stuck for a while. That 2022 championship was nothing more than Curry covering for an absolutely arrogant two-timeline plan that is now blowing up in the very face that Golden State is frantically trying to save.
You have to admit, it’s kind of funny. From bailing on Paul George (a good call) in the offseason to now calling about him after he’s shown the world that the contract the Sixers gave him was a mistake. Light years? The Warriors don’t even appear smart enough to know when they made an actual smart move.
LeBron? Hilarious. Lacob and Co. have been out here acting like they invented the wheel and it turns out they’re just that fantasy-football guy who thinks he can run a real team because he lucked into some flex player on the waiver wire who blew up.
None of this is to say the Warriors shouldn’t make a move. It’s to say they should’ve done it a long time ago. But they were too proud. Too smart for their own good. And now they’re desperate. Like just about every other team.
Well, except the smart ones: teams like the Thunder, the Knicks, the Rockets, the Spurs, the Grizzlies. These organizations are running laps around the Warriors with their drafting, development and decision making.
To be fair, Golden State has done some smart things over the years. Firing Mark Jackson was at the top of the list. Hiring Steve Kerr to replace him was another. Moving Stephen Curry off ball and creating a system entirely resistant to the principles of traditional defense unlocked a dynasty.
But now everyone has caught onto that, too. Curry running around randomly is no longer enough when there isn’t anyone else for the defense to fear. Just switch the off-ball stuff and who else is going to hurt you? Watching the Warriors try to create offensive advantages these days is like watching that lady who swam from Cuba to Florida. To call the task a struggle would be an understatement.
So again, no kidding they are “dead set” on putting another elite scorer next to Curry. They are headed straight for the lottery, or the play-in at best. And for all their smart-guy talk, that just isn’t something their egos can handle. Problem is, they might not have a choice.
