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The Warriors’ controlling parties, through a series of curious personnel decisions, have spent the better part of six years watching Stephen Curry’s prime wither in the wind. They were so enamored with tomorrow that they neglected today, which is a sports felony if your roster is blessed with a generational talent in his early 30s.
And now, with Curry about six weeks from turning 38, they have six days to atone for the sins of the past.
Success would be concocting a trade package alluring enough to persuade the Milwaukee Bucks to send Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Bay Area. Amends belated are better than none.
The Warriors, according to multiple NBA sources, are indeed making a compelling pitch to add the Greek Freak, who has been a fantasy for years. Giannis might not have a bigger fan, outside his family, than Warriors CEO Joe Lacob.
The Bucks, however, are in the power position. The Warriors are among as many as six teams, according to sources, showing sincere interest, with three or four – including Golden State – vigorously competing among each other.
“The Bucks don’t have to do anything before the deadline,” one league source said Thursday. “Now it could get uncomfortable if they keep Giannis for the rest of the season when everybody knows he wants out. That’s an option if they don’t like what’s offered.
“But any team that makes a deal with them will have to give up a lot. A whole lot.”
According to several sources contacted this week, the Warriors are willing to meet that criteria. They’re ready give up a whole lot. The general assumption is that Curry is, of course, the only untouchable.
When Golden State general manager Mike Dunleavy said last week that he anticipates Jimmy Butler III returning early in 2027 and “giving us a boost next year the same way he did last year when he arrived,” that was when Giannis, who turned 31 last month, was pondering outside options.
In recent days, Antetokounmpo, coping with a right calf strain, has turned his head and both feet away from Milwaukee.
This is an instance when, according to sources, the Warriors not only are intrigued with the idea of adding Giannis but also are aligned in the belief that he is worth the pursuit. Well, yes. A team short on athleticism would add an elite athlete. The league’s shortest team, with a middling paint presence and a penchant for bungling layups, would add a filthy finisher, an imposing force at the rim and superior length (6-foot-11, with a 7-foot-3 wingspan). Then, too, Antetokounmpo is conceivably the most fearsome transition brute in the league.
Curry and Butler can run a mean pick-and-roll. Draymond Green and Curry have, for years, created beautiful music out of the pick-and-roll. A Curry-Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll, however, would introduce an utterly devastating dimension to Golden State’s 13th-ranked offense, which is deeply reliant on 3-point shooting that runs hot and cold.
It has been almost 10 years – when the Warriors put on a full-court press in July 2016 to recruit Kevin Durant – since imaginations within Dub Nation stirred with such anticipation. Durant was considered a long shot, but the recruiting delegation closed the deal and was rewarded with consecutive championship parades.
In the six-plus years since Durant’s departure in the summer of 2019, Golden State’s front office has made but two moves to significantly bolster the roster. Acquiring Andrew Wiggins at the February 2020 trade deadline was no megadeal but a shrewd heist. And then, five years later, moving Wiggins and more (including a 2025 first-round pick) for Butler.
Wiggins was considered an underachiever in Minnesota and Butler – the Warriors’ only All-Star addition since Durant – had become a very public malcontent in Miami. The Warriors followed their wisdom and pounced.
Aside from those two moves, five years apart, the Warriors have not acquired anyone who has earned All-Star consideration. Though they did an admirable job of patching together a roster good enough to stun the league in 2022 – shoutouts to impacts of Jordan Poole, Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica – they have not drafted anyone who has earned such consideration since the second-round selection of Draymond Green in 2012.
Of the Golden State’s 14 draft picks since Jerry West’s departure in June 2017, the most impressive were spectacular but flawed: Jonathan Kuminga and Poole. Once JK gets his wish and moves on, all the Warriors will have to show for three lottery picks in successive drafts is Moses Moody, who most consider a rotation player on a contender. They’ve added solid role players, such as Gui Santos, Brandin Podziemski, Quinten Post and Will Richard – but no one who looks like a top-three player on an NBA Finals team.
Which is why Curry’s expression registered such anguish two seconds after Butler crumpled to the floor, grabbing his knee 11 days ago. He knew his deepest desire for this season – and maybe next season – had vanished.
If the Warriors had a future cornerstone on the roster, Curry likely would not have been so distraught. They don’t. So, they chase Giannis.
Dunleavy says Golden State’s draft picks are available for the right trade. For crying out loud, they should be.
“If we’re talking about trading draft picks that will be going out when Steph isn’t here,” the GM said last week, “it’s going to have to be a player that we think we’ll be getting back that is going to be here when those picks are going out. And that player’s going to have to be pretty impactful. It would take a good amount, positionally, play style, archetype, all that. I would leave it pretty broad and open. But if there’s a great player to be had, we’ve got everything in the war chest that we would be willing to use.”
That’s the word. The Warriors have fire in their eyes as they chase Giannis. Given the recent personnel decisions, that’s the least they can do.