Warriors face choices for keeping Curry-Butler window open wide
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
By Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II / The Athletic
The frustration was visible on Stephen Curry’s face. The Golden State Warriors had felt pretty good about Curry’s being able to return from his hamstring injury for Game 6 of their second-round NBA playoff series against the Timberwolves. But Minnesota ended it in five games, with a 121-110 victory last Wednesday night.
“The only solace you can really take was that we had a chance,” Curry said. “It’s kind of the ultimate gut punch because of that. Makes it worse. You just don’t want to go out like that.”
Five minutes after the final buzzer, Golden State’s controlling owner, Joe Lacob, was complimentary of the home team but more willing than others in his organization to voice what many believed.
“Disappointing,” he said. “I really hoped we could extend the series and I’m ...”
He paused, understanding his next statement would come off as discrediting the Timberwolves, but he fired it off anyway.
“I am pretty positive that if we had Steph, we’d have won this series,” Lacob said.
Lacob’s sentiment is notable when attempting to get a read on the front office’s planned path forward. The lead decision makers — Lacob; Mike Dunleavy, the general manager; Kirk Lacob, the assistant general manager — do not plan a major shake-up, team sources said. They are plotting a retooled middle of the rotation below Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, still believing that veteran core can contend.
“It’s in some ways kind of a win to get here, to get the second round,” Lacob said. “Yeah, we lost, four games to one. Not good. But to a team that is playing very well. They took the Lakers out, four to one, also with two of the greatest players in the world on their team. We didn’t have one of ours. So we can all sit here and make what-ifs, judgments, but I can’t be really upset with what happened, given that we just didn’t have our biggest force.”
The Warriors were 23-7 with Butler and Curry in the lineup and beat the second-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round. They maintain they could have reached the conference finals and possibly beyond.
But the consolation prize of believing they were good enough to compete with any other team only amplifies the urgency to make the necessary adjustments to build on this season.
Ordinarily, when a team feels close, Curry said, major changes do not feel so necessary. But he has been through this enough times to know standing pat is not prudent. Butler’s contract lines up with Curry’s. They have two seasons left.
“On the surface, that’s why he signed for two more years — our belief we can make it work,” Curry said of Butler. “And we’ve proven that the last three months. Just got to figure out what is going to get us to the next level as a whole. One guy can’t win it. Two guys can’t win it. It’s got to be a team.”
As they enter the summer, team sources said, the internal plan and conversations are about how best to reform the role players around Curry and Butler, not to chase another star.
Jonathan Kuminga is the most notable swing piece. The Warriors are expected to extend his $7.9 million qualifying offer, which will make him a restricted free agent in July, giving them leverage.
Kuminga has had a turbulent four seasons with the franchise. Coach Steve Kerr pulled him from the rotation in the Houston series. After Curry’s injury, Kuminga dropped these point totals in the final four games against Minnesota: 18, 30, 23, 26.
It is nearly impossible to believe Lacob would let Kuminga sign an offer sheet elsewhere and walk away for nothing. A reunion between the sides is still on the table, league sources said.
But both sides are expected to explore sign-and-trade situations, those sources said, which would theoretically give Kuminga the contract and fresh start he would desire while giving Golden State rotation players of immediate value. The Warriors’ decision makers believe they need more positional size across the board.
Brandin Podziemski is another critical player. He had his best game of the series Wednesday, going 11 of 19 from the field and finishing with 28 points, 6 reboundsa and 4 assists.
“There were times in this series where he was hesitant to shoot,” Kerr said. “I thought he could have gotten 10 or 11 3s off tonight, and we needed those. I told him that after the game. I said, ‘When we get back here next year, you are not going to turn down a single shot.’”
Podziemski, the 19th pick in the 2023 draft, played his way into the rotation as a rookie, supplanting Klay Thompson. After a slow start to his second season, he turned it on in a secondary role after the Butler trade. His versatility as a 6-foot-5-inch guard, his basketball IQ and his willingness to grind make him valuable. But the Warriors might need more from him. He looked overwhelmed for most of these playoffs, the first of his career, raising questions about whether he is a potent enough scorer to warrant his role.
“That’s a big part of playoff experience,” Kerr said, “understanding you have to keep firing and stay aggressive.”
Golden State opted to keep him last offseason instead of cashing in his noteworthy value on the trade market. Several teams called with appealing offers, league sources said. They were told no.
But the need for offensive punch was magnified this postseason. Some in the organization who landed on the side of exploring Podziemski’s value see a need for more of a Jordan Poole-type of playmaker: a confident shooter and offensive creator who can share in the playmaking load with Curry and Butler. The two veterans will require rest and management next season.
But Podziemski is 22, set to make $3.6 million next season and laden with intangibles. That makes him worth keeping, especially if he grows more confident offensively. But it also makes him valuable around the league.
Do they use him as one of the few commodities they possess, or continue his development while he is on a team-friendly deal?
“I would hope our young players take yet another leap,” Lacob said. He added: “Our drafts were not bad at all. These guys are very young. They’ve had to fit into a very difficult situation with experienced players. It’s not like they can just go out and put up numbers. So I think we’ve drafted very well. We’ve got some good young players.”
The backbone of the organization remains what it has been for more than a decade. Kerr and Dunleavy are expected to remain in place. Butler is the new costar. Green is expected to remain. Then the ecosystem still operates around Curry, who will enter his 17th NBA season in October.
“I have a great coach and I have a great GM,” Lacob said. “I have no problems with anything in respect to them. Mike made a fantastic trade. Before we made that trade, we were one game under .500 and it didn’t look like we were going anywhere. We won a first-round series against a very good up-and-coming team with a lot of athleticism and size. I thought it was a hell of a win. Got us pretty tired probably for this series, and maybe that was just too much to overcome.”