The Golden State Warriors were close to acquiring future Hall of Fame forward Paul George early this offseason. They just could not work out a deal with the rival Los Angeles Clippers, leading to George opting out of his deal and signing with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Fresh off missing out on the playoffs for the third time in five seasons, the Warriors have been linked to big-name player all summer.
Nothing has come to fruition on that end. Instead, Golden State lost four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks. In his stead, the Warriors brought in De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield. While decent additions, they are not needle-movers in a tough Western Conference.
Meanwhile, Golden State continues to be in talks with the Utah Jazz about a blockbuster trade for All-Star big man Lauri Markkanen.
There is not a great update in this regard, either.
Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier on Monday that Markkanen is likely to sign an extention with Utah. Said deal will come after August 6, meaning that he won’t be eligible to be dealt during the 2024-25 NBA season. Read more about those details here.
What does this mean for Golden State? Does the team has other options? There is a lot that can happen between now and opening night in October. But things don’t look great right now.
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This has to be considered a major backdrop to everything that’s happening in San Francisco. Golden State lost to the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament last season. Even with Thompson in the mix, this did not look like a legitimate title contender.
Since then, general manager Mike Dunleavy has refused to include youngsters Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga in trade talks. In short, the Warriors’ brass is going with two different timelines. That is to say, short-term contention and long-term relavance. It has not paid off since they won the NBA title back in June of 2022.
New Orleans Pelicans wing Brandon Ingram and Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls are two of the biggest names available right now. Would either of them make the Warriors title contenders? It’s an open question. Outside of that, there is not a lot to write home about.
We could see a star player request to be traded within the next two months. It’s something that has happened late in the summer each of the past few years. Obviously, the Warriors would be linked to said player.
For now, Golden State is on the verge of striking out this summer. And in reality, that could be the end of its title contention with Stephen Curry hitting the back end of his career.