SAN FRANCISCO – Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s impossible mission, which he already accepted, truly begins now, just a year after he took over as manager of the Golden State Warriors and a few days before some of the biggest decisions in recent history. the franchise. should be.
And how does the Warriors general manager cope with the weight of Klay Thompson’s future, Chris Paul’s future, perhaps Paul George’s future and, oh yeah, the quest to complete the final years of Stephen’s premium era Curry with at least one more championship? Coming off pretty relaxed, sounding very confident, and actually making a relatively compelling case that all of these challenges put the Warriors in a position to do some creative, positive things.
In other words, they have options. The Warriors could remain largely the same and let their young players flourish, if that’s what Dunleavy, Joe Lacob and the rest of the Warriors’ decision-makers want to do. They could make some minor adjustments and wait a year before the big changes occur. They could simply let Klay and CP3 walk in the next few days, which would immediately take the Warriors from the punitive second line to being completely out of the luxury tax, at least for a year.
Or, Dunleavy doesn’t deny that the Warriors have the means to do something big, big, big, big next week. My words, not yours: They are already clearly testing the market for a Paul George trade, and if George decides he wants to come to the Warriors and nowhere else, the Warriors would be the favorites to sign him. None of that has happened yet, at least publicly; I still think this is a tough trade to make for the Warriors and LA Clippers given their huge payroll situations and their similar penchant for avoiding helping each other.
But it is possible. Something immense is possible. And Dunleavy, speaking on my podcast this week (recorded Thursday afternoon after the second round of the Draft), is absolutely, clearly, definitively pointing out that a big move – or the big move – is not out of reach for the Warriors. in this low season.
“I think it’s possible because we have the resources to do it,” Dunleavy said. “When you look at our roster, you look at our selections, you look at all the things we have, we certainly have an attractive organization with a competitive ownership group, great coaching and desirable players to play with.
“All those things that we have lend themselves to believing that we are capable of making a big move if it is on the table or available. The hardest part about that is that there aren’t that many guys available that you think are worthy of giving all that up. We’ll see. This evolves, it changes very quickly. But the only thing I know is that we are in a position to do it.”
Would the Warriors give up Jonathan Kuminga and multiple future first-round picks (combined with CP3’s $30 million contract) to get George? I don’t know. That’s a lot. But I’m pretty sure that would be the basis of what the Clippers would demand, if this conversation moves forward.
(Side note: If the Warriors guarantee CP3’s contract before Friday’s deadline, that would be a strong sign that they believe they have a trade in the works, regardless of whether it involves George or not. If CP3 and the Warriors agree to extend their deadline until July, that’s likely an indication that all sides are still considering their options and nothing is certain. If CP3 is released on Friday, the odds of a big Warriors trade plummet because it’s all but certain. that they would need his contract to balance such a deal, unless the Clippers prefer to have Andrew Wiggins to fill that cap space).
Of course, Dunleavy would never negotiate this in public, and I also think he doesn’t want to negotiate it with the Clippers until he knows that George a) has opted to re-sign for next season rather than become a free agent and b) has told the Clippers he wants to end up with the Warriors. And that might not happen until Saturday, which is the deadline for George to decide on his option. (Another note: It would be nearly impossible for the Warriors to acquire George if he becomes a free agent.)
Until then, it’s important for Warriors fans and the league to understand that Dunleavy doesn’t feel like he’s in a position of weakness. He doesn’t consider himself the general manager of an old, sinking ship. And he won’t walk away from the Warriors Dynasty as long as Stephen Curry’s greatness remains.
“The reality is, we don’t know exactly, you know,” Dunleavy said. “I heard four or five years ago that this was over and we had won another championship. So part of me thinks we have to be careful not to let it go too soon because there might be one or two more in us.
“We’re always chasing that, we’re always aware of it. I think the most important thing for us is to continue to build our talent base, grow our young players, keep our great older players at a high level and just be ready to strike when the time is right. That’s a combination of our young players getting better, and adding things on top of that. It’s just about being in that right position when you’re going from a good team to a potentially great championship team, and I think we’re in a position to do that.
“I think we still have an elite, high-level player in Steph Curry. That’s one of the most important things to have. And we still have good complementary pieces, an elite, one-of-a-kind defender in Draymond (Green). Those things are still there, so if we can add in the right way, like we saw in 2022, it’s doable.”
“I think we still have an elite, high-level player in Steph Curry,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. says. “That’s one of the biggest things we have to have.” (Ronald Martinez//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
You probably noticed one name wasn’t included on that list of key pieces. A few days ago, Dunleavy mentioned Curry and Draymond and said he also expected Klay to remain a part of his core group next season. Maybe Dunleavy simply forgot the last part he spoke to me about on Thursday and didn’t mean anything significant, but him simply dropping the reference is an indication of some distance between the Warriors and Klay right now. And the free-agent negotiating window opens this weekend.
I asked Dunleavy: Are you worried about going down in Warriors history as the GM who let Klay walk to start the dynasty breakup?
“I probably don’t think about it that way,” Dunleavy said. “I just look at it as (the person in) the decision-making role, you have to do what’s best for the franchise one way or another. That’s what I signed up for. I understand the dynamic. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. But if we keep that mindset and that approach, we’ll do the right thing.”
Some other highlights from our conversation…
• Dunleavy made the draft in his first weeks as the Warriors’ general manager last year, selecting Brandin Podziemski in the first round and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the second. This year, Dunleavy only had the 52nd overall pick, which he traded to Oklahoma City to acquire 26-year-old sharpshooter Lindy Waters III, then the Warriors bought the 52nd overall pick to select Boston College center Quinten Post.
Dunleavy on Waters, who he expects to compete for a rotation spot right away: “Without getting into specifics, we’re going to try to find a player that has one goal, we think this guy shoots, he’s got good size, we think he can play both ends, move off the ball, make the right reads, do all those things. We know he’s been well coached in the OKC program and he’s a kid that we’ve had our eye on and targeted throughout his college experience, in the G League and now in the NBA.”
• I asked Dunleavy if he and his lieutenants had thought about which player they might have taken at No. 14, which would have been their pick in this draft if they hadn’t traded him five years ago in the Andre Iguodala salary slump. (Portland selected Pittsburgh’s Bub Carrington with the pick on Wednesday.)
“We do that,” Dunleavy said. “I would say I’m pretty happy with the way things went with moving Iguodala, which (allowed the Warriors to acquire) D’Angelo Russell, which led to Wiggins and Kuminga and all that. Considering those things and even this draft, not loving the range we were in, this was okay for the year we didn’t have the pick. There were certainly good players available. But I don’t think any of us were sitting there kicking ourselves and saying, man, we shouldn’t have made that deal that got us to a championship so we could have this election.”
On young central players Moses Moody, left, and Jonathan Kuminga: “I think we want those guys here for the long term,” says Mike Dunleavy Jr.. (Thearon W. Henderson//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
• Does Dunleavy expect to sign Kuminga and Moses Moody to their rookie extensions before the October deadline (assuming, of course, they’re not traded before then)? “I think we want those guys here long-term. So the fact that they’re extension-eligible certainly contributes to trying to get something going. I think going through everything we’re going through right now with the draft and free agency, we’ll get there. But that doesn’t mean those guys aren’t the priorities. There’s just other things going on right now.”
• By purchasing the second-round pick, the Warriors put themselves below the $190 million line for the second round. That’s not a big deal because Lacob said a long time ago that the Warriors would definitely get there in July. From there, Dunleavy said Thursday that the Warriors have many different ways to resolve their financial situation.
“I think last year, when we made the Chris Paul move and moved Jordan Poole, it lent itself to the option,” Dunleavy said. “That was one of the most important parts of doing that, beyond bringing in a really good player like Chris. And here we are where we have different options. We can go up to the second platform, we can exceed the tax, we can go below the tax. I don’t see a scenario where we have a lot of cap space. “I think we’re looking at intermediate bandwidth… but all options are readily available.”
• It’s always interesting to hear how headquarters works. I asked Dunleavy who he turns to for wise and possibly difficult advice, and Dunleavy immediately said he goes to assistant general manager Larry Harris.
“In our group, I’m lucky to have a guy like Larry Harris, who has already been a general manager in the league (in Milwaukee),” Dunleavy said. “He’s been here longer than anyone else in the organization on the management side, even before our ownership group with Joe and Kirk (Lacob) and everyone. So Larry is a great resource that I can talk to and count on.”
GO DEEPER
NBA free agency: Paul George to the Warriors? Plus, Klay Thompson’s options, more
(Top photo of Paul George and Klay Thompson during a February game: Noah Graham/NBAE via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.