Looking for luck in dog days of summer
Warriors majority owner Joe Lacob couldn’t stop thinking about the very good boy wagging his tail in a crate at Oakland International Airport.
It was September 2017, and Golden State was working with animal shelters to find owners for about 150 dogs and cats left homeless when Hurricane Irma tore a path through the Miami area. Midway through his drive home from the airport, Lacob called the woman in charge of placing the animals with families and told her to hold onto a young miniature pinscher who reminded him of his childhood dog.
“We had a special connection
right away,” Lacob said of the pooch now known as Larry O’Brien in honor of the trophy awarded annually to the NBA champion. “I just had to have him.”
Larry has been the subject of a recent socialmedia blitz the Warriors orchestrated to bring the team’s representative, Stephen Curry, good fortune at the virtual NBA draft lottery Thursday evening. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts tout the dog, shown in a blue Golden State jersey, as a “Very Good lucky charm.”
Such a campaign might border on silly, but it underscores how seriously the Warriors are taking their first draft lottery in eight years. After finishing its quarantineshortened season with a leagueworst record of 1550, Golden State is guaranteed its first topfive selection since 2002, with a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick, 13.4% chance at the No. 2 pick, 12.7% chance at the No. 3 pick, 12% chance at the No. 4 pick and 47.9% chance at the No. 5 pick.
The absence of an obvious generational prospect might make this lottery less intriguing than last year’s, when franchises vied for the chance to take Duke’s Zion Williamson No. 1 overall. But few question that October’s draft will be crucial for the Warriors, who, unlike many lotterybound teams, seldom get a shot at an early selection.
With Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all in their early 30s, Golden State hopes to draft the rare player who can contribute to a championship contender as a rookie and develop into a face of the franchise within the next several years. The general consensus throughout the league is that, when picking in the top five, franchises must select the best prospect available.
But in a draft pool with this much uncertainty, the Warriors might have to factor in team need more than they would in a year loaded with surefire future AllStars. Multiple league sources told The Chronicle to expect Golden State’s draft board to differ significantly from those of lottery teams in search of an immediate franchise savior.
Given that the Warriors figure to value certain prospects more than other front offices, they could be wellpositioned to trade back in the draft. This would allow Golden State to select someone it likes while also acquiring an experienced player or another pick.
“We’re going to look at this probably differently than some teams might,” Lacob said. “We’re going to go for someone who’s a good fit for what we already have. Sometimes, when you don’t have any talent, you’re like, ‘Any good talent is great,’ and you build around that.
“I think we have some pieces to build around. I’m not saying that we would necessarily not take the best player available. We probably would. But I do think there’s some sense of looking at fit, with how they’d fit with your best players.”
The Warriors would like to land the top pick for obvious reasons, but they won’t be crestfallen if they slide toward the bottom of the top five. In recent months, with little to do other than prepare for the draft, Golden State’s scouts and frontoffice executives have discussed potential scenarios for each of their five possible draft positions.
Regardless of whether the Warriors pick first or fifth, they anticipate having quality options. A league source said that, if Golden State doesn’t receive any enticing trade offers for the selection, it is confident it can draft someone who will plug a key rotation hole next season.
As The Chronicle first reported in April, the Warriors likely will select Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards if they get the top pick. It would take an AllStarcaliber player for Golden State to consider trading the right to draft Edwards, who, despite his inconsistencies with the Bulldogs, already has the size and quickness to beat NBA defenders off the dribble.
Should the Warriors land the No. 2 or No. 3 pick, they would be more likely to trade down in the draft. Golden State is not necessarily as high on former Memphis center James Wiseman or former Illawarra Hawks (Australian league) point guard LaMelo Ball as other teams that consider those two among the draft’s topthree prospects.
Instead of keeping the No. 2 or No. 3 pick, the Warriors could package it with their $17.2 million trade exception for an established player or multiple draft assets. It’s also possible that, under this scenario, Golden State could deal its lottery pick for multiple picks later in the first round.
According to multiple league sources, the Warriors are big fans of Villanova small forward Saddiq Bey, who is widely projected to go in the mid to late first round. If Golden State trades back to the latter half of the lottery, it likely would eye Bey.
What makes this draft so unique from the Warriors’ perspective is that they could draft the same player at No. 5 that they’d want with the No. 2 pick. In that range, Israeli small forward Deni Avdija, Iowa State point guard Tyrese Haliburton, Florida State shooting guard Devin Vassell and Auburn small forward Isaac Okoro would be possibilities.
“It’d be great to get the highest pick possible, but I’m not going to be all that disappointed if we don’t,” Lacob said. “If we get No. 4, we get No. 4. That’s fine. We’re going to get a good player.”
Lacob, like the rest of the Warriors’ front office, will watch the draft lottery from home. Odds are that Larry O’Brien — the miniature pinscher who accompanies the team owner on RingCentral calls with employees — will be sitting in Lacob’s lap.
Since Lacob adopted Larry, the Warriors have reached two NBA Finals and won a title. As Golden State’s socialmedia accounts have made quite clear, the team is hopeful that, with Larry’s help, Golden State can get a lucky bounce of the pingpong balls and earn the right to draft whomever it’d like.
“It sounds silly,” Lacob said, “but it’s kind of comforting knowing Larry’s around.”