Mike Dunleavy Jr. was officially introduced as the next Golden State Warriors’ general manager Monday afternoon, replacing former NBA Executive of the Year Bob Myers in that role.
Flanked by owner Joe Lacob, the theme of Monday’s press conference was continuity. With his Warriors coming off a second-round exit in the NBA playoffs, Lacob didn’t look outside of the organization for a Myers replacement.
“We’ve been very fortunate that he was already in our organization, and I had a good sense that if anything ever did happen with Bob, we had someone in waiting and in training for this job,” Lacob told reporters on the promotion of Mike Dunleavy Jr.
A player for the Warriors from 2002-07, Dunleavy Jr. has been a member of the front office since 2018. He was promoted to assistant general manager in 2019 and VP of basketball operations in 2021.
Despite Dunleavy’s impressive resume, he’s heading into an important offseason in Northern California. Golden State fell to the sixth seed in the Western Conference last season, losing to the Lakers in the conference semifinals. Since then, the team has seen the division-rival Phoenix Suns improve leaps and bounds following the blockbuster acquisition of Bradley Beal in a trade with the Washington Wizards.
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The pressure is squarely on Dunleavy to make a move that will keep the Warriors’ championship window open. Equally as important, it was noted earlier on Monday that four-time NBA champion Draymond Green will opt out of his contract and became a free agent next month. While the Warriors plan on doing everything possible to re-sign Green — an anchor on defense and team leader — the future Hall of Famer will test the free-agent waters.
Meanwhile, two youngsters on the roster, Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga, have been mentioned in trade rumors since the Warriors’ season came to an end. This is all adding up to a pressure-filled first offseason for Dunleavy as Golden State’s new chief decision maker. Here’s why.
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Golden State Warriors’ standing in the Pacific Division
Even before Golden State can think about dethroning the defending champion Denver Nuggets, it has to look long and hard at the Pacific Division.
The Sacramento Kings are coming off their best season in a quarter-century. And while Mike Brown’s squad fell to Golden State in the first round of the playoffs, we’re talking about a young team that has not even come close to hitting its ceiling. Sacramento was also in on Beal before Phoenix acquired the three-time All-Star. It’s a clear indication that the Kings are going to upgrade their roster during the summer.
Speaking of Beal, he now heads to the desert to team up with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Sure, there are continued issues as it relates to depth in Phoenix. It’s what led to a defeat at the hands of the Nuggets in the conference semifinals. But if these three are healthy, we’re looking at the latest iteration of a super team around the NBA.
None of this even takes into account the two Southern California teams. The Lakers are coming off a surprise appearance in the Western Conference Finals. With LeBron James almost certain to return and Los Angeles looking to upgrade at the point guard spot, it’s a team that will be in the conversation next year.
As for the Clippers, they hope to return Kawhi Leonard and Paul George from injury in 2023-24. The expectation is that the Clips are going to also upgrade at point guard with a certain future Hall of Famer in mind.
Logically, an argument can be made that Golden State is the fifth-best team in the division right now. That creates some major limitations when it comes to avoiding the Play-In Tournament, something the Warriors barely did last season.
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The Draymond Green, Klay Thompson equation
As expected, Green has opted out of his $27.59 million salary for next season and will hit free agency. It has long seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the all-time franchise great would return to Golden State on a new four-year contract. That might not be as clear cut as we thought.
“We will continue to talk to Golden State and explore all options,” Green’s agent, Rich Paul said after the opt out decision.
Among those options is a willingness to re-sign with Golden State and potential sign-and-trade scenarios. For the Warriors’ part, they will apparently make it a priority to re-sign Green this summer.
“We really want Draymond back. Green is important for this team to play at a high level. We feel like we have to have him. So that’s very important,” Dunleavy said at his introductory press conference.
Re-signing Green would create a combined payroll and luxury tax bill upwards of $500 million for the 2023-24 season. Sure, Golden State’s brass has made it clear money isn’t an issue. But we’re talking about a record payroll for the four major North American professional sports leagues.
One option for Golden State should Green decide to leave would be to work out a sign-and-trade. Very few contenders are able to sign him outright, making this the most likely path outside of the volatile Green re-signing with the Dubs.
As for Klay Thompson, his situation isn’t too different. Another member of the core three in San Francisco, Thompson is entering the final season of his five-year, $189.9 million contract. He’s set to earn $43.22 million in 2023-24.
It was previously noted that Thompson expects the Golden State Warriors to offer him a max-level contract extension. While there is an expectation that Thompson might take a pay cut to sign a long-term deal, that situation is clearly up in the air.
Thompson, 33, put up one of the best performances of his NBA career in his first full season returning from ACL and Achilles’ injuries. Unfortunately, he also struggled big time in Golden State’s second-round exit at the hands of the Lakers (34% shooting).
As with Green, the Warriors’ brass must walk the fine line between retaining their championship core and ruining any hope of long-term relevance. We’ll see what Mike Dunleavy and Co. have planned on these two fronts.
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Golden State Warriors to build for the future or move young assets?
This is a question that has been facing Golden State for years now. That is to say, how to find a happy medium between short-term contention and long-term relevance. Whether it was Myers or the higher-ups, pushback against dealing young players for proven veterans was the name of the game in Northern California.
There are rumors that both Poole and Kuminga could be moved. Despite a solid regular season, Poole struggled big time in the playoffs. He looked like a fish out of water, and clearly didn’t up his game after helping lead Golden State to the NBA title the previous season.
“With his contract extension, we’re planning on having him here for four more years at least,” Dunleavy said about Poole on Monday.
We have to give Dunleavy credit. Apparently, he became an expert at GM talk under Myers. There would be absolutely no benefit to outwardly saying Poole is on the trade block. But based on all of the reports out of the Bay Area, that is indeed the case.
As for Kuminga, his situation is complicated. Still only 21 years old, the forward has shown flashes of brilliance with Golden State. Unfortunately, Kuminga also fell into head coach Steve Kerr’s doghouse during the playoffs and was not even in the Warriors’ regular rotation.
Despite this, there is a ton of interest in the high upside forward on the trade market. One recent report suggests that Golden State is looking to flip him for a high pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft.
This wouldn’t make a ton of sense in the grand scheme of things. Why trade a player for someone you hope to become as good as said player? The idea here would then likely be to flip the pick acquired for Kuminga as part of package for a proven star. Remember, Golden State was in on Beal before he was sent to the Suns.
This leads us to a major question facing Dunleavy. Based on what we’re already seeing during the young NBA offseason, does he have to pull off a significant trade?
The Warriors had in the past been linked to Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam. Perhaps having a conversation with that team could make sense. Other players potentially on the block include Kristaps Porzingis (Washington Wizards), Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls) and Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves).
Set to pick No. 19 overall in the draft his week, it’s an open question whether any of those would be true needle movers or fits in Northern California. What we do know is that Mike Dunleavy Jr. is under a ton of pressure out of the gate as the new Golden State Warriors general manager.