Subbing, not replacing
3Dot Lounge: Oubre will help Warriors plug Thompson gap
Kelly Oubre Jr. enters an NBA arena in style, meticulously decked out in a showy fashion ensemble. He charms people with his disarming good looks and a speaking voice rich in mellow cool. Then he leaves all that behind, taking the court in a frenzy of dunks, blocked shots, trash talk and raw energy.
No, he’s not Klay Thompson. But in a matter of hours, after hearing the bad news on their superstar shooting guard, the Warriors replaced him with a pretty attractive package. They need to revitalize a disheartened fan base, and the arrival of Oubre — 6foot7 with a 73 wingspan — looms as a blessing.
The Warriors haven’t had a
player quite like him since they rose to power in 2014, and that’s hardly surprising, for Oubre offers a remarkably wideranging image of today’s NBA. He’s is a lot of things at once, moving seamlessly from the pages of Esquire to a posterization dunk over the Clippers’ Paul George ( a highlight moment from prepandemic December).
He can be inconsistent on the court, occasionally vanishing from clear view, but the Warriors aren’t being terribly particular in their evaluation. On a landscape full of dreadfully dull options on the trade and freeagent market, they pulled off a deal that creates spectacular fastbreak opportunities with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and the swift James Wiseman all fond of the open floor.
It’s important to remember that the Warriors still have a firstround draft pick next year, topthree protected ( and thus likely to convey) from the Minnesota Timberwolves. To acquire Oubre from Oklahoma City, Golden State gave up its own firstrounder — and the Warriors only have to surrender it if they have one of the 10 best records in the league. Otherwise, it becomes a pair of secondrounders to OKC.
It makes sense, in a most pleasing way, that Oubre hails from New Orleans. “Culture and just swag kind of runs in our blood out there,” he told reporters last year, but his upbringing came with a jolt. He was 10 years old when Hurricane Katrina forced his family to make an abrupt move to the Houston area, and “it was really tough,” he recalled. “Toughest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. Homeless, having to sleep in your car, hotels, things like that. But my dad, he pushed us through. He was a real soldier.”
Oubre blossomed into a top high school player, played one season at Kansas, then joined the NBA at 19 with the Washington Wizards. He was only with OKC for a matter of days, having been shipped there in Phoenix’s trade for Chris Paul, but he made a big impression with the Suns. “Kelly’s a guy who plays 40 minutes and you look at him and he doesn’t look tired at all,” said head coach Monty Williams. “We don’t run a ton of plays for him, yet he ends up with 25 points ( averaging 18.7 last season) because he just plays hard.”
Asked on ESPN’s “The Jump” if he had designs on last year’s slamdunk contest, Oubre answered, “Tough question. I’m more of an ingame dunker. I get a lot of enjoyment from dunkin’ on people. The dunk contest is a single show. Don’t know if I could bring the tricks out like that. I love puttin’ on a show for people who pay for tickets to the games.”
At a time when nobody really knows anything, about anything, the Warriors can promise one thing: This is a player worth checking out.
Thoughts on the draft
The Milwaukee Bucks thought they’d pulled off a doublesided gem with the acquisitions of backcourt stars Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic, only to learn that Bogdanovic hadn’t been apprised of the sign-and-trade deal and would file for restricted free agency. It’s a total mess; Bogdanovic reportedly wants to play with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but with the NBA planning a tampering investigation, one of the players headed to Sacramento, Ersan Ilyasova, was placed on waivers and removed from consideration. The Bucks still have Holiday, they picked up two good shooters in the draft ( Jordan Nwora from Louisville and Utah State’s Sam Merrill), and the trade complications allow them to keep the promising Donte DiVincenzo. Perhaps this won’t dampen Antetokounmpo’s interest in signing a max extension before the season starts. But it’s quite the embarrassment. ... Scanning the draft critiques, we ran across three players labeled “best shooter in the draft”: Merrill, Aaron Nesmith ( headed to Boston) and Stanford’s Tyrell Terry, about to join Luka Doncic and the fastrising Dallas Mavericks. Terry, who has been known to hit 75 or more out of 100 3pointers in practice, has gained close to 20 pounds since April and reportedly increased his vertical leap.
Tyrese Haliburton somehow fell to No. 12 in the draft, and that’s an outright steal by the Kings. The 65 Haliburton excels in court vision, passing, transition and 3point shooting, and it’s believed he’ll be a tremendous backcourt fit with De’Aaron Fox. Also noteworthy: Haliburton said he was hoping to wind up in Sacramento, and you don’t hear that every day. ... Quite the makeover in Philadelphia: New chief executive ( Daryl Morey), new coach ( Doc Rivers), smart draft picks in Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey and Arkansas’ Isaiah Joe, plus two players with career 3point accuracy of at least 40% ( Danny Green and Seth Curry, who happens to be married to Rivers’ daughter, Callie). ... Final note: Chris Mavraedis, a passionate Giants fan stricken by ALS, has organized a virtual event called the Three Trophy Celebration, designed to raise funds for research on the disease. On Dec. 1 at 5 p. m., fans can watch the recollections of Bruce Bochy, Buster Posey, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, Ryan Vogelsong and other members of the Giants’ family in a 90minute presentation narrated by Jon Miller. It’s $ 30 per person, with details available at mavobooks. com.