San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Work to do: Front office has balancing act to retain core, maintain depth
Late Friday night, while walking to the visitors’ locker room at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena to celebrate the Warriors’ third NBA title in four years, Warriors forward Draymond Green shouted: “This was the toughest one yet!”
It will only get more difficult. With teams like Houston, Boston and Philadelphia tightening the talent gap, Golden State is keenly aware that it can’t stick to the status quo and expect to hoist another Larry O’Brien trophy next June.
Improving upon one of the most stacked rosters in NBA history will require a number of tough decisions this summer. Here is an early look at the Warriors’ offseason to-do list:
Work on locking up their core to long-term deals.
The Warriors want to tweak
their roster, not overhaul it. Often the trickiest part of maintaining a dynasty, however, is keeping the core intact.
In coming weeks, Golden State will extend head coach Steve Kerr’s contract past next season. Forward Kevin Durant, who will opt out of his contract before the June 29 deadline, is expected to ink a maximum contract with the Warriors.
The question is over the length of Durant’s impending deal. He and his agent will study the state of the projected salary cap, hammering out the salary structure that will maximize his earning potential.
Regardless of whether Durant signs a one-year contract with a player option for the second season or something more long-term, all indications are that the 29-year-old All-Star intends to spend the rest of his prime with Golden State.
Majority owner Joe Lacob has no problem going deep into the luxury tax to keep chasing championships. Barring something unforeseen, Durant will be offered $35 million this summer, guard Klay Thompson will see $32 million in 2019 and Green will get more than $25 million the following year.
Lacob has said that he plans to offer Thompson and Green new deals this summer, but those two might not want to take a future pay cut. The $102 million that Thompson could be extended for is $85 million less than the maximum he could sign with the Warriors as a free agent. Green, who could be extended for $71.7 million for three years starting in 2020-21, might also prefer to wait until free agency.
Draft a rotation-ready player.
Just as Golden State built through the draft with Thompson, Green and guard Stephen Curry, making the most of its draft picks would go a long way toward keeping this dynasty going long-term.
The young players the Warriors groom next season will need to shoulder heavier loads as Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green push the limits of their prime. Given that Golden State has roughly $100 million committed to four players, it doesn’t have the cap flexibility to make up for draft whiffs in free agency.
The Warriors’ No. 28 pick in the June 21 draft is their highest since they took Harrison Barnes seventh overall in 2012. With at least a few of Golden State’s seven free agents sure not to return next season, general manager Bob Myers figures to target a prospect capable of immediately sliding into the rotation.
As the league trends toward small-ball lineups, the Warriors are putting a premium on wing players who can shoot and defend. A few prospects who fit that mold and could be available at No. 28 include Duke’s Grayson Allen, Boston College’s Jerome Robinson and Boise State’s Chandler Hutchison.
Though Golden State has no second-round selection, it is open to buying into the second round. That is how it snagged Patrick McCaw (No. 38 in 2016) and Jordan Bell (No. 38 in 2017).
Figure out which older free agents to re-sign.
The Warriors have four free agents in the latter stages of their careers — Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, Nick Young and David West — who could seemingly be re-signed on the cheap.
The collective bargaining agreement allows Golden State far more flexibility to bring back its own free agents than to sign other teams’ free agents. However, the Warriors probably don’t want to re-sign four players who played limited roles in the playoffs just for two things the team already has in abundance: championship experience and lockerroom leadership.
Golden State will almost surely say farewell to Pachulia and Young. West, who at 37 was one of the Warriors’ best bench players in the regular season, will weigh retirement. If he decides he wants to play another season, the Warriors would probably welcome him back on a minimum deal.
The biggest question mark is McGee, who was a factor in the NBA Finals after being anchored to the bench in the previous two playoff series. Few could fault Golden State for re-signing a player with his physical tools to a one-year, minimum contract.
Try to bring back Kevon Looney and Patrick McCaw.
It isn’t a matter of whether the Warriors want to re-sign Looney and McCaw, but whether the team can afford them.
At 22 with an ability to guard all five positions, Looney is the type of young, smallball center prized in the modern NBA. The problem for Golden State is that, because it declined his fourth-year option, it can offer him only $2.2 million.
Per ESPN’s front-office insider, Bobby Marks, Looney would command in the neighborhood of $3 million to $4 million in unrestricted free agency. It is unclear how willing Looney would be to turn down bigger offers for more championship runs with the Warriors.
McCaw, who will be a restricted free agent, is coming off a disappointing season that included a scary spine injury that sidelined him nearly two months. But thanks to his age, length, versatility and upside, the 22-year-old swingman should warrant interest from other teams. The Warriors might have to make a difficult decision should another franchise offer McCaw significantly more than Golden State’s $1.7 million qualifying offer.
Get a couple of free-agency steals.
For a team as deep into the luxury tax as the Warriors, the taxpayer mid-level exception is an important resource. Last season, Golden State used the mid-level of $5.2 million on Young, only for Young to oscillate in and out of the rotation. Unable to rely on him, Kerr was forced to retool his substitution pattern and place more of a burden on Shaun Livingston.
The good news for the Warriors is that this summer’s free-agent class is loaded with proven rotation players who should be available at the midlevel. With not many other options to sign free agents, Golden State needs whoever it brings in on that deal to be more of an asset than Young was this season.
The Warriors also have a minimum exception, which they can use to round out the back end of their rotation. Perhaps there will be another West-type — an established journeyman in search of his first championship — willing to take a major pay cut to chase a ring with Golden State.