Warriors flush with free agents
When the Golden State Warriors won it all a year ago, there was a scary sense in NBA circles that this would become the new norm.
There was, most agreed, potential for a dynasty here.
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — all budding stars in their prime — had contracts that weren’t expiring anytime soon. Coach Steve Kerr had proved adept at pulling all of the right strings. And when the time came to make sure their core stayed put, Joe Lacob and the rest of the Warriors ownership group made it clear at every turn that they’d pay up.
But as the past few weeks have shown, it’s not quite that simple.
After the record-setting 73-win regular season that had the Warriors looking so far ahead of the pack, the Oklahoma City Thunder shattered their air of invincibility with a Western Conference finals slugfest. The margin of error, the basketball world could see, wasn’t quite what we might have believed.
There’s a reason the team motto is “Strength in Numbers,” but it won’t be easy for the Warriors to live up to that mantra after this season.
For all of the talk of how freeagent-to-be Kevin Durant might leave Oklahoma City and come the Warriors’ way this summer, the overlooked part in the discussion about the defending champions is how they have eight players set to be free agents. All it takes is a few wrong moves, and perhaps altered team chemistry, and this dominant group could be on the decline.
Say what you will about restricted-free-agent-to-be Harrison Barnes, who is sure to command huge dollars on the open market with the league’s salary cap about to spike from $70 million to $92 million, but he’s a productive puzzle piece on an all-time team. Backup big man Festus Ezeli (also restricted) is a puzzle in his own right, especially when one considers the impact of starting center Andrew Bogut in the Finals and his desire for an extension this summer that he has long since made public.
Leandro Barbosa, the 33-yearold who scored 21 points in 29 minutes through the first two games of the series vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, is an unrestricted free agent. Big man Marreese Speights, whose scoring punch off the bench (7.1 points and 11.1 minutes per game) was a luxury in the regular season, also is an unrestricted free agent. Ditto for center Anderson Varejao, who joined the team at midseason.
Veteran small forward Brandon Rush, who was a starter during an early season stretch in which the Warriors went 13-2 while Barnes recovered from an ankle injury, is unrestricted, too. Ian Clark, a promising young shooting guard who scored 21 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 30, and James McAdoo, a 23-year-old forward who came through their D-League system, are restricted free agents.
These are questions to be answered next month as the Warriors’ repeat effort remains the priority. But the future, and the degree to which it’s promising, is more unclear than you might think.