SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s impossible mission, which he has already accepted, truly begins now, only a year after he took over the Golden State Warriors’ front office and a few days before some of the biggest decisions in recent franchise history are due.
And how is the Warriors’ general manager facing the weight of Klay Thompson’s future, Chris Paul’s future, maybe Paul George’s future and, oh yes, the quest to fulfill the final years of Stephen Curry’s premium era with at least one more championship? By looking pretty relaxed, sounding very confident and actually making a relatively convincing case that all these challenges put the Warriors in position to do some creative and positive things.
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They have choices, in other words. The Warriors could stay mostly the same and let their young players bloom, if that’s what Dunleavy, Joe Lacob and the rest of the Warriors’ decision-makers want to do. They could make some middling tweaks and wait a year before the big changes occur. They could just let Klay and CP3 go over the next few days, which would immediately take the Warriors all the way from the punitive second apron to out of the luxury tax entirely, at least for a year.
Or, Dunleavy does not deny, the Warriors could have the wherewithal to do something major, major, major, major by next week. My words, not his: They are already quite clearly checking out 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 land him. None of that has happened yet, publicly at least; I still think it’s a hard trade for the Warriors and L.A. Clippers to pull off given their twin massive payroll situations and similar inclination to avoid helping the other.
But it’s 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 noting that a big move — or the big move — is not out of the Warriors’ reach this offseason.
“I think it’s possible because we have the assets to do so,” Dunleavy said. “When you look at our roster, you look at our picks, you look at all the things we have, we certainly have an attractive organization with a competitive ownership group, great coach, desirable players to play with.
“All those things that we have lends itself to believing that we’re capable of a big move if that’s on the table or available. The hardest part of that is not that many guys that are available you feel are worthy of giving up all that. We’ll see. This stuff evolves, it changes so quickly. But the one thing I know is we’re in position to do it.”
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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 foundation of what the Clippers would demand, if this conversation gets far down the road.
(Side note: If the Warriors guarantee CP3’s contract by Friday’s deadline, that would be a strong signal that they think they’ve got a trade brewing, whether or not it involves George. If CP3 and the Warriors agree to push his deadline back into July, that probably is 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 they almost certainly would need his contract to balance such a deal, unless the Clippers would rather have Andrew Wiggins to fill that salary slot.)
Of course, Dunleavy would never negotiate this out in public, and I also think he doesn’t want to negotiate it with the Clippers until and unless he knows that George has a) opted into his contract for next season instead of becoming a free agent and b) told the Clippers that he wants to end up with the Warriors. And that might not happen until Saturday, which is George’s deadline to decide on his option. (Another note: It would be almost impossible for the Warriors to acquire George if he becomes a free agent.)
Until then, it’s important for Warriors fans and for the league to understand that Dunleavy isn’t feeling like he’s in a position of weakness. He doesn’t consider himself the GM of an ancient and sinking ship. And he won’t walk away from the Warriors Dynasty as long as Stephen Curry’s greatness sustains.
“The reality is we don’t know exactly, you know?” Dunleavy said. “I heard four or five years ago this thing was over and we got another championship in. So part of me is, like, we’ve gotta be careful of letting go too soon ’cause there could be another one or two in us.
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“We’re always pursuing that, we’re always mindful of it. I think the most important thing for us is to keep building our talent base, growing our young players, keeping our great older players at a high level and just be ready to pounce when the time’s right. That’s a combination of our young players getting better, adding things on top of it. It’s just being in that right position when you’re going from a good team to a potentially great championship team, which I think we’re in position to do so.
“I think we’ve got an elite, high-end player in Steph Curry, still. That’s one of the most important things to have. And we’ve got good complementary pieces, a unique, elite defender in Draymond (Green), still. Those things are still around, so if we can add in the right way, as we saw in ’22, it’s doable.”
“I think we’ve got an elite, high-end player in Steph Curry, still,” Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. says. “That’s one of the most important things to have.” (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
You probably noticed that one name was not included in that list of key pieces. A few days ago, Dunleavy mentioned Curry and Draymond and said he also hoped that Klay would still be part of their core group this coming season. Maybe Dunleavy just forgot that last part speaking to me on Thursday and didn’t mean anything significant, but just dropping the reference is an indication of some distance between the Warriors and Klay right now. And the free-agency negotiating window opens this weekend.
I asked Dunleavy: Do you worry you’ll go down in Warriors history as the GM who let Klay go to start the breakup of the dynasty?
“I probably don’t think about it like that,” Dunleavy said. “I just think about it as (the person in) the decision-making role, you’ve gotta do what’s best for the franchise one way or the other. That’s just kinda what I signed up for. I understand the dynamics. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. But if we kind of keep that mindset, that focus, we’ll do the right things.”
Some other highlights from our conversation …
• Dunleavy nailed the draft in his first weeks as Warriors GM last year, selecting Brandin Podziemski in the first round and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the second. This year, Dunleavy only had No. 52 overall, which he traded to Oklahoma City to acquire 26-year-old shooter Lindy Waters III, then the Warriors bought the 52nd pick back to select Boston College center Quinten Post.
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Dunleavy on Waters, whom he expects to compete for a rotation spot immediately: “Without getting into hey, we’re just going to try and find a one-trick pony, we think this guy shoots it, he’s got good size, we think he can play both ends, moves without the ball, make the right reads, doing all those things. We know he’s been well coached in the OKC program and a guy we kind of had our eyes on and targeted throughout his college, G-League and now little bit of NBA experience.”
• I asked Dunleavy if he and his lieutenants gamed out what player they might’ve taken at No. 14, which would’ve been their pick in this draft if they hadn’t traded it away five years ago in the Andre Iguodala salary dump. (Portland took Pittsburgh’s Bub Carrington with the pick on Wednesday.)
“We do that,” Dunleavy said. “I would say I’m pretty happy the way things worked out by moving Iguodala, which (allowed the Warriors to acquire) D’Angelo Russell, which led to Wiggins and Kuminga and all that. Considering that stuff and even this draft, not loving that range we were in, this was fine to be the year not to have the pick. There was some good players available, for sure. But I think there was none of us sitting there just kicking ourselves saying, man, we shouldn’t have done that deal that led to a championship so we could’ve had this pick.”
On young core pieces Moses Moody, left, and Jonathan Kuminga: “I think we want those guys here long-term,” Mike Dunleavy Jr. says. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
• Does Dunleavy expect to sign Kuminga and Moses Moody to their rookie extensions by the October deadline (presuming, of course, that they aren’t traded before then)? “I think we want those guys here long-term. So having them extension-eligible certainly lends toward trying to make something work. I think going through everything we’re going through now with the draft and free agency, we will get to that. But that doesn’t mean those guys aren’t the priorities. There’s just some other stuff going right now.”
• By purchasing the second-round pick, the Warriors hard-capped themselves below the $190 million second-apron line. That’s not a big deal because Lacob long ago said that the Warriors would definitely get under that line by July. From there, Dunleavy said Thursday that the Warriors have a lot of different ways they can play out their financial situation.
“I think last year when we kinda made the Chris Paul move and moved Jordan Poole, it lent itself for optionality,” Dunleavy said. “That was one of the big parts of doing that beyond bringing in a really good player in Chris. And here we are where we have different options. We can go up to the second apron, we can go over the tax, we can get under the tax. I don’t see a scenario where we get a bunch of cap space. I think you’re looking at a bandwidth in between there … but all options are easily available.”
• It’s always interesting to hear about how front offices work. I asked Dunleavy who he turns to for wise and possibly difficult advice and Dunleavy immediately said it’s assistant GM Larry Harris.
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“In our group, I’m fortunate to have a guy like Larry Harris, who’s been a GM in the league before (in Milwaukee),” Dunleavy said. “He’s been here longer than anybody in the organization on the front-office side, even before our ownership group with Joe and Kirk (Lacob) and everybody. So Larry’s a tremendous resource for me to be able to bounce off of, to talk to.”
GO DEEPERNBA 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 Getty Images)
Tim Kawakami is Editor-in-Chief of The Athletic's Bay Area coverage. Previously, he was a columnist with the Mercury News for 17 years, and before that he covered various beats for the Los Angeles Times and the Philadelphia Daily News. Follow Tim on Twitter @timkawakami
