Warriors GM eyes free agency, draft as he sets up 2017-18 team.
Durant’s willingness to take a pay cut will play into ability to retain Iguodala
OAKLAND — Most of the Warriors team went to Las Vegas this past weekend to continue their title celebration. But the architect of the team, Bob Myers, was forced to stay back, preparing for the NBA draft, which is Thursday, and free agency, which starts July 1.
On Monday, Myers said most of his focus is locked into the draft because it is sooner, despite the Warriors holding none of Thursday night’s 60 picks. Just like last year — when they purchased a pick from Milwaukee in the second round and snagged Patrick McCaw — he has the go-ahead from ownership to buy a pick if the scenario makes sense.
“In there on our board we have a ‘B’ next to our players who we would buy a pick for, in red,” Myers said, pointing toward his office. “So there are guys we would buy a pick for. If you snuck in there, it would be fun to see.”
The draft comes first. But free agency is more important for this franchise this year. The Warriors only have five players under contract for next season. Ten players who finished the season on the roster are unrestricted free agents.
The two most important, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, are expected back on big deals. But after that, the roster shuffling could get complicated.
If Durant is willing to take a pay cut — and all indications are he is open to a $31.8 million salary next season instead of the estimated $35.3, which is his max — then the Warriors will have the ability to retain Andre Iguodala’s Bird rights and go over the cap to bring their veteran wing back.
Everything up until Monday, including Iguodala’s public comments, hinted that the organization and player had already hashed out a plan to make the partnership work, somewhere likely in the $12 million per year range.
But Monday, The Vertical reported that Iguodala could get offers somewhere near $18 million to $20 million from other suitors and he was willing to at least grant meetings and listen to overtures. Myers said, per league rules, he couldn’t discuss the situation much.
“I don’t know,” Myers said. “Free agency is predictably unpredictable. We love Andre. Hopefully we can find a way to make it work for not just him but all of our guys. But as far as specifics, there’s not a lot — and the rules make sense — there’s not a lot we can say definitively one way or the other.”
Once the Warriors sort out the futures of those three vital pieces, they likely will move on to Shaun Livingston, who is in a similar situation to Iguodala. If Durant takes that pay cut, the Warriors can go over the cap to sign him, but it’s unlikely they will offer near the money he could get on the open market, should he want to explore.
Then once all of that is sorted out — probably in a flash in early July — the Warriors can move on to the center position, where they won’t have much more than veteran minimum contracts to offer.
“We still feel like it’s an important position, but we just have a lot of money in other positions,” Myers said of the center. “It’s not as if we devalue the center spot. Depending on what’s available, depending on what our options are, we like a lot of guys on our team. We’ll look at them. But we’ll look at the marketplace and see what makes sense.”
The team values its incumbents: Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee. All three provided great value this past season. But there are other veteran big man options to explore — most notably Zach Randolph, should he opt to leave Memphis and sign below his market value.
This is a crucial summer for Warriors coach Steve Kerr. After battling chronic headaches and pain the past two years after complications from back surgery forced him to step away from the team twice — including for nearly two months this past postseason — he is in search of a more permanent answer for what ails him.
Kerr wouldn’t get into specific details, but said he will be traveling the country, maybe even the world, over the next few weeks to pursue potential leads.
“There’s a lot of different thoughts as to ways I can see some improvement,” Kerr said. “So I’m going to see various people and try to get some traction early in the summer. The good news is I did feel a lot better when I came back from where I was six weeks ago. I do feel like I’m making some strides. But I definitely want to gain some momentum early in the summer and build on that momentum to be feeling a lot better soon.”
Kerr has already said he will coach the Warriors next season. And though his health is top priority at the start of this summer, he said he will travel to Las Vegas for the summer league next month and will remain in the loop for draft night and free agency, which starts July 1.
“Anything free agency wise, I’ll be ready to make any phone calls Bob needs me to make,” Kerr said. “Me and Bob will be talking every day once that starts. I’ll be by Bob’s side and ready to help him out any way I can.”