SAN FRANCISCO — There is the Warriors’ urgency and there is also the Warriors’ legacy, and these two very significant things are getting more and more separated from each other with every passing day.
The dire urgency is to vault back from this season’s Play-In embarrassment, to get back into the playoffs, to contend with Denver, Oklahoma City and Boston for the championship, to justify the massive payroll commitment and to keep doing it like the Warriors did from 2014 to just a few years ago.
The urgency is to get younger, faster, cheaper, taller and more skilled, all before next season’s training camp and all likely without their first-round pick this year (currently scheduled to be the 14th overall, owed to Portland unless the lottery leaps the pick into the top four) … or else recede into the lesser regions of NBA life. Should be easy, Mike Dunleavy Jr.!
The grand legacy, of course, is everything that Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and the other golden-era Warriors achieved during that time and still represent in all the ways that make it so important to keep the core group together for as long as possible. The Warriors will never have another run like that one, and it is worth lingering in the moment, even only as fond memories, at least for a little while.
But there was always going to be an inflection point for this four-title dynasty when Warriors management had to make a clear choice or two between assembling their best, most efficient roster … and just keeping the band together for the vibes. The walloping in Sacramento earlier this week sure felt like some kind of signal about this.
Maybe this isn’t the end of all dynastic things, but it’s definitely time for the Warriors’ decision-makers to make sure that the roster isn’t mostly a bunch of museum pieces in a year or so. And to do it gracefully, do it by honoring the foundational figures, do it in a way that Warriors fans can accept, and, oh by the way, to make sure they don’t cut the cords prematurely on these great players.
Start the next era. But do it carefully and not until you really have to.
“Yeah, I think it’s certainly a responsibility, just because this team and organization means so much to the Bay Area,” Dunleavy said at his end-of-season media session on Thursday. “So you can feel, you know, what it means to the fans and even the people within the organization, the players. But it’s kind of a cool, it’s a cool opportunity. Like, normally you’re trying to build a team from the start up and there’s an ascension; and all this, this is a little bit different. So I relish the challenge.
“By the way, those guys aging out, like, it’s Steph Curry, it’s Draymond Green, it’s Klay Thompson. Those guys are great guys to go out with. And they’re still good at basketball. So I think it’s a manageable thing. Is it challenging? Yes. But … I relish it because it’s unique and I think it’s somewhat doable. So we’ll see what happens.”
Somewhat doable. The Warriors’ general manager was being admirably honest by using those words, though also a bit blunt. I also think it’s probably the right tone to set — Curry remains near the top of his game and should be the center of all things for a few years more, but Draymond helped pull down this season with his suspensions and Klay had a terrible start and rallied but now is a free agent and has the right to look elsewhere.
It won’t be easy to straddle strong sentiment and real-world pressure. And the Warriors might not be able to keep things perfectly together even if they really want. The dynasty is probably over, or at least the fun part of it.
But here are some of the likeliest ways the Warriors could try to split the difference this offseason — do right by their vaunted veterans but also reduce the payroll to a reasonable number and add younger, more dynamic athletes to counter all the athletic teams that ran circles around the Warriors at times this season.
Make Klay a solid offer that also recognizes that he’ll probably have a lesser role if he stays with the Warriors
The Warriors don’t really have a way to replace Klay if he leaves as a free agent — his money would come off the payroll, but it’d be impossible for the Warriors to sign an outside player at that kind of salary due to CBA limitations. The Warriors might be able to fill some of the void with Moses Moody and/or Brandin Podziemski, but they would also never feel like the same team again.
So they’ll almost certainly make Klay a solid offer, maybe around $20 million a year for two years. That’s not close to the kind of offer Klay might receive from Orlando or elsewhere, but that kind of Warriors offer would reflect the general idea that Klay, while valued, is more of a role player these days.
“I thought Klay really showed that he was agreeable to the sixth-man role the second half of the year, even though eventually we put him back in the starting lineup,” head coach Steve Kerr said at his own session Thursday. “I think that’s got to be an option going forward. … We’ve got to be able to play him less, but in order to do that, we’ve got to add more shooting to the roster, frankly. (If) we can add more shooting and limit Klay’s minutes, I think he’ll be much more effective in a season-long manner.”
Obviously, Klay might not love hearing these words. He accepted going to the bench for a time this season, but that doesn’t mean he’ll happily do it again, especially if a true title contender makes him a big offer. He’s earned the right to go where he wants. Klay is already a legend here. Maybe the Warriors won’t be able to bear the thought of losing Klay this summer.
But they were too slow, too old and too expensive with Klay getting a $43.2 million salary and 30 minutes a game this season. That won’t be fixed if Klay is back at a very high salary next season. If the Warriors can cut both numbers in half, they might be onto something. It sure would be a start. But also, there’s no reason Klay has to agree to any of it.
Chris Paul was a model teammate for the Warriors this season, but bringing him back at age 39 won’t fix their issues. (Cary Edmondson / USA Today)
Acknowledge that Chris Paul likely is not returning, possibly with the Warriors getting nothing in return for him
Paul was a very solid player for the Warriors this season. They’ll miss him if and when he’s gone. He was a model teammate and personality. But bringing back CP3, into his age-39 season, won’t exactly fix a roster that is already too small, too old and too unathletic to compete with the best teams.
Paul’s truest value, anyway, was as a vehicle to discard Jordan Poole’s long-term money, which will be fulfilled when CP3’s upcoming, non-guaranteed $30 million salary for next season is either traded (for less money) or simply waved away by the Warriors.
Can Podziemski step in as the backup point guard? Maybe. He actually seemed more comfortable bringing the ball up against full-court pressure than CP3 late in the season — and teams definitely threw that pressure at the Warriors whenever Paul was in the game.
Plan for Jonathan Kuminga to get a lot of minutes at small forward — and also see what he’s worth on the trade market
If the Warriors are going to make a big leap, it almost certainly has to come from Kuminga, either as a ball-handling forward who can take some of the scoring burden from Curry … or as this roster’s most valuable trade bait if the Warriors do a bit of big-name hunting.
The simplest scenario is for Kuminga to earn a starting spot, possibly with Trayce Jackson-Davis at center, Draymond at power forward and possibly Andrew Wiggins (or Moody or Podziemski) as the shooting guard. That’s how the Warriors can get bigger and more athletic. That’s how Kuminga can turn into the Warriors’ secondary scorer behind Curry.
But that only works if Kuminga becomes surer with the ball and steadier with his 3-point shot.
“So what I think JK is looking at is how can he make himself more versatile to be available in different lineups,” Kerr said. “Can he be a 3? That’s a big question. And I don’t know the answer to it. I know that as we continue to help him and he continues to learn how to create spacing and get his shot off a little quicker and be more comfortable catch-and-shooting, but also making the right reads, because as a 3 you handle the ball more. Can he become a better passer? I think he sees the floor pretty well, but his fundamentals in terms of passing have to improve if he’s going to play the 3.
“We need him to play the 3 if we want to have Trayce out there at the 5 and Draymond — I mean, that ideally would be a great defensive lineup, athletically and length. But we’re not ready for that yet as a team. So those are the areas that would really be helpful for JK, and we’re going to work with him on that stuff all summer.”
And also, if the Warriors try to push their way into a sign-and-trade discussion for Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan or just a straight trade for Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray or some other interesting high-value player … the first person the other team will mention, undoubtedly, will be Kuminga.
GO DEEPER
‘He’s so human’: Steve Kerr goes deep on Draymond Green and the Warriors’ unsettled future
Continue on the Draymond adventure ride, but with options available if it derails again
Kerr said it Thursday. Warriors people have been saying it quietly all season, through the suspensions and all else involving Draymond. If the Warriors wanted out from Draymond, they would’ve decided to do it a while ago. And they didn’t.
“If we decided he wasn’t worth it, then we would have moved off of him years ago,” Kerr said. “But he’s worth it, and he’s worth it not only because of the banners that are hanging out there, because he really is a wonderful human being.”
Practically, the Warriors are committed to him because they gave Draymond a four-year extension last offseason, which came months after he punched Poole. They concluded then that Draymond was a player they still needed. And that they couldn’t get anything close to replacing his value if they let him go or tried to trade him.
“Draymond’s complex, his relationship with our franchise is complex, but at the core of it is a deep loyalty and passion and love, and we share that with him, and that’s really tricky to reconcile, so you almost don’t even try to reconcile it,” Kerr said. “You help him through it and you make sure he’s the best version of himself and you keep pushing. …
“But I think he did cross a line with the stuff that happened early in the season, and he knows it. And his, you know, the rest of his career, he knows the league won’t allow him to cross, we won’t let him allow him to cross that line again, because that was different. That’s … my main point. He can yell at me all he wants, you know, he can get ejected, he can get technicals, but that’s where it has to stop, and the last three months he was his best self.”
Draymond’s suspensions cost the Warriors some victories this season, no doubt. Probably enough of them to lock them into the Play-In, instead of landing in one of the top six slots. The Warriors can’t feel sorry for themselves about this, though — it’s not like they didn’t know Draymond was volatile before they gave him the $100 million deal. He’s been worth it.
But he’s 34 now. The Warriors and Draymond both aren’t as good as they used to be. At some point, they will need to replace him. Maybe TJD is the guy for this. Maybe it’s Kuminga. Maybe the Warriors can trade for this kind of player — they tried before with OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, they can try again this summer.
At some point, all of their legacy players will be replaced. Nobody really wants that time to come. But the Warriors aren’t just looking at their own dynastic mortality right now. They’re probably past it and looking back at mostly memories.
GO DEEPER
Klay Thompson on free agency: ‘What’s up with y’all not wanting to live in the present?’
(Photo of Draymond Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson: Noah Graham / NBAE via Getty Images)
