Moves To Come For Warriors? + Is Golden State Still A Threat? | The Hoop Collective

Moves To Come For Warriors? + Is Golden State Still A Threat? | The Hoop Collective

Hello, welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA which we’re doing on Wednesday evening. I think this podcast may not be publishing until Friday and on television. So, just timestamping this on Wednesday. Just keep that in mind. We’re not usually do that, but it’s vacation season. What can I say? Okay. More important than that is my new colleague. He’s not really new because I’ve known him for like 15 years, but he’s our new ESPN colleague joining us from the Athletic from Northern California where he will be based and has been based for many years. Anthony Slater. Mr. Slater, how are you? I’m great. 15 years would would would put me like end of college. So, all right. I just ballparked it. Yeah. I don’t want to age you. I don’t want to age me for that matter. That’s probably right though. I would say probably 12, 13. This will be coming up my 13th season covering the NBA. And I can imagine I don’t remember the, you know, moment I met you or the game I met you at, but I assume it was very early in my beatw writing career. So, probably 13 years ago, 12. Is it possible that when you started covering the Thunder, because that’s where your first NBA job was covering the Thunder for the Oklahoma, is it possible that you could not grow the very beard that is now your trademark? Uh, it was probably a little bit scruffier, a little bit, you know, you were young is my point. Yes, I was. I was. I can’t grow a beard to this day. I’m not I’m not looking down at you. At one point I had like a goatee, but you know, it was I felt like that was more time period. It probably looks worse now. Yeah. Well, Slater is a legend on the Warriors beat. Covered um a big chunk of their run. I think three of their championships you covered. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, look, I came over when Durant did, you know, I covered the last three Durant seasons in Oklahoma City. So, the two Durant titles and then the resurrection of, you know, or, you know, whatever you want to call the 22 title that shocked a lot of people. So, yes, three of the four titles. Well, you’re in um the Bay Area. I I guess I’ll extend it to where you are, the Bay Area. And uh I am in New York, New Jersey, which is the other city by the Bay, which is a reference to Sopranos. If you got the joke, congratulations. If you think it’s weird, just move on. Okay. So, um I’d like to talk to you about the Warriors. Um that’s you’re going to be covering more than the Warriors for us, but uh this is your area of expertise, which is um important because it still remains one of the most relevant teams, one of the highest interest teams. However, as has been repeated uh routinely for the last uh two and a half weeks now, oh, I guess three weeks, the Warriors have not made a move in this off season yet. It is not for lack of lining things up and trying. So, I think I am, as we recording this on July 23rd, maybe there will have been a move by July 25th. We can’t see the future, but Slater, what what do you what are we to make of the Warriors off season thus far? It’s not that surprising. Um, you know, maybe you thought they might chip in a minimum or two or, you know, announce an agreement without an official press release, which means it’s been signed. But their big ticket item was Jonathan Kaminga. There was a lot of signs leading up to his free agency that it could drag because of the frozen restricted free agent market, which by the way is not just the Jonathan Gomega thing. I think we all know. Um, but there’s a lot of scar tissue in the relationship. There’s a lot of dynamics at play. There’s a lot of CPA CBA mechanisms and uh reasons that we are sitting here on July 23rd and there’s been somewhat movement. You know, there’s a uh I I would categorize the Warriors uh this week, and we are talking on Wednesday. Again, people may not be listening until Friday, but I would categorize the Warriors this week as more motivated to get something done with Jonathan Kaminga and attempting to to move the ball down the road a little bit. And I’ve always felt that the most likely scenario was a Kaminga reunion for various reasons. Um but it’s still stagnant July 23rd for various reasons, too, that go back, it really goes back four years. I mean, it’s a four-year story uh with Kaminga, and I don’t know how deeply you want to get into it, but that’s why they’re stagnant because of Jonathan Kinga’s situation. Yeah. You authored many stories about this uh rocky relationship for The Athletic over the years. Some of them were co-authored with our colleague again, the ESPN, Shams Trannia, where I mean there was sort of a legendary story where uh Kumingo was quoted. Were you were you on that story with Shams? There were Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There was two. There was So, you’re talking I already know the one you’re talking about. Uh, this would have been his third season when he was, you know, he had a really good third season if you look at it statistically. Um, and there was a brutal home loss on the front end of a backto-back to the Denver Nuggets, which will most be remembered from, remember Joic hits like a 40 foot banker or something. Legendary. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Well, in that game, Kaminga played like 18 minutes and he’d been playing well and he’d like he had played well in his 18 minutes, but Kurt didn’t go back to him. Um, and you know, it was a buildup of frustration of him not breaking through, of him, you know, feeling the career moment, feeling his game getting to a level where he was waiting for a breakthrough. And that was a very criticizable decision that particular night by Kerr. And in the middle of the backtoback, yeah, me and Shams dropped a story where, you know, it was basically Kamega losing faith in Steve Kerr, he was quoted, was he quoted as saying, uh, it was so he was quoted the next night about it because again, front end of a backto-back. They then play the next night. Kaminga plays like a careerhigh in minutes. He’s awesome. They beat the Raptors. I remember. And then postgame he he goes into great detail about how him and Steve had a meeting that morning and like kind of discussed their uh you know I guess lack of communication at times and and you know it almost 24 hours later was viewed as like hey maybe this is a positive and again he actually finished that season at least regular season decently but that is only that’s like one chapter of about 19 in this saga. We don’t have to go chapter in verse, but long story short, Kuminga and Steve Kerr have had a rocky relationship and the, you know, I don’t know if he was the centerpiece of the two timelines. He and James Wisman, but he certainly was a big cornerstone of the two timelines and it hasn’t worked out. And it seems, if I could say this broadly, and if if I’m over generalizing, knock me back in the line. When the Warriors have their best players out there, Kuminga doesn’t necessarily seem to thrive. But when he gets a bigger role in the ball in his hands more, he tends to thrive, which is why a lot of people, including, I guess, Mr. Kaminga himself, might have seen a future outside of Golden State, but it hasn’t worked out for various reasons, largely because restricted free agency is a b- word, and that’s the world he’s living in right now. Yeah. um you know and he has had moments with the full cast which has changed over his four years where he has you know had huge stretches you know six weeks where he’s averaging 18 19 20 on on good volume and u but you know I will say typically it’s like hey Dre during Draymond suspension the longer suspension was one of his real bust out moments uh during Andrew Wiggins hiatus everybody can probably remember uh Andrew Wiggins or was Kaminga’s second year missed basically from the all-star our break to the end of the season and you go back and this is Kaminga’s second season. He uh was a massive rotation piece that dragged helped drag them to the six seed right at the end. Uh and then Andrew Wiggins showed up on the doorstep right before the playoffs and he was basically pulled from the rotation and and when you trace some of Kaminga’s frustrations, it is because there have been moments where he’s felt like he has broken through. has proved to Steve Cerr and the decision makers uh that it is time to maybe anoint him ready to be an every night guaranteed rotation player and there just hasn’t been as much of a a trust and belief and and and backing you know and you know call it immature uh you know for a young player but I I think that often leads to his you know bad transition defense which can frustrate Kerr lack of you know physical rebounding nights where he’s kind of jogging up and down the floor and floating to the corner because he when he doesn’t feel that backing has a mindset of like all right y’all just want me to you know get out here and you know not make a mistake cuz you’re going to pull me if I make a mistake so let me float to the corner and again I think that showed itself again at the end of his fourth season where uh they put him in my opinion in a very tough spot during the Rocket Series after pulling him there was a couple times they had to plug him in right remember Jimmy Butler misses game three at home and they start him after keeping him out of the rotation. Uh he played 11 minutes. He played hard. He made some mistakes. He’d been on ice. Uh and and then game seven, remember they they they lose the 3-1 lead. It’s 3-3. He had a couple bad moments in game seven, but that was like a really kind of difficult uh environment to be thrown in. And you know with Jimmy Butler there, which goes back to your earlier point about like the full cast, particularly the Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry, Draymond Green full cast, it is kind of a misfit, but you he would flip it and you can flip the mindset where it goes, okay, Steph Curry tweaks the hamstring and all the guys that you could say the Gantoses of the world who might play better as a fourth or fifth guy in a lineup uh and might, you know, help get a hustle rebound and get back in transition and do that type of stuff. Well, guess what? But when Steph Curry strains a hamstring, you can’t go, hey, all right, take the ball, take Nas Reed off the dribble, score 20 tonight. And it’s like, well, you know, that’s valuable. Um, and that will be valuable next season, won’t it? I mean, like, let’s say Al Horford is in tow, and clearly that’s the Warriors plan. We’ll see if it’s executed, but that would make four of their starters 35, 35, 37, 39. Al Horford doesn’t play back tobacks. We know some of the injury and the uh I don’t want to say coasting that some of the other stars do, but like you know, you you throttle up and throttle back during the regular season. They’re going to need scoring. They’re going to need athleticism. They’re going to need pop during an 82 game regular season. And I think lost in a lot of what’s going on right now with Kaminga is people aren’t talking about how much I believe and a lot of people including some in the Warriors front office, even some in the team believe like he is needed at times. Will he be potentially minimized and benched in game five, game six of the second round? Sure, that could, you know, again, it could happen. Steve Kerr, you know, gets to a moment where he just needs like defense and hustle in this and he goes away from him. But guess what? Jimmy Butler misses two weeks next season. You need a score. You know, you need a fifth year, 6’7 wing who’s going to go to the rim because there’s other flaws on their roster that very much show themselves when one of their scorers is out. They’ve also tried to trade him a couple of times that I’m aware of. They tried to trade him they tried to trade him for uh Kevin Durant midway through this last season. They they tried to trade him for Paul George last summer when they ended up not, you know, the Clippers basically wouldn’t agree to the the trade. God knows how many other times he’s been in discussions, but like at least two, you know, at least two times they try to trade him for a star player. Um, you know, I’m sure there were discussions with him and Jimmy Butler. you know, he ended up not being in that deal. Obviously, ended up being Wiggins, the big name in the deal, but you know, he’s it’s the Durant the Durant trade near trade. This deadline’s very important here because you go back to last summer and there’s a lot of even angst now I’d say about like, you know, like he was extension eligible last summer, right? And it doesn’t get done. Um, part of the reason it doesn’t get done and sure the way it’s been put to me is there was never any offers on the table. There was some dancing around of like yeah the word as you know as of the word offer is a tough word for media to use whether it’s trade or contract or you know offering the job to a head coach. The word offer is a difficult word that I think in um I know like with my editors they’ll be like well didn’t they offer it? I’m like, “Well, hold on. Just be careful using the word offer because yeah, when you use the word offer, you kind of got to defend it and there’s this language game that was played.” So, I understand what you’re saying. Yes. So, what’s important there though is part of the reason that the Warriors were hesitant to extend Kaminga last summer. And you know while you know numbers were discussed and I think Jaylen Johnson getting 5 years 150 gave a target that that you know obviously Kaminga and their their you know his representation they had ambitious uh you know thoughts about what it could be. I’m of the belief and I’ve been told that they would have taken five for 150 if it was ever on the table. it wasn’t on the table. And part of the reason the Warriors didn’t necessarily want to put an offer on the table and never actually did put a firm, you know, sign on the dotted line type offer on the table is because it would have poisonpled his contract and they were very much in flexibility mode because they wanted to be able to trade him. And if you sign him to that deal, he’s nearly impossible to trade last season. And as you mentioned, they almost traded him for Kevin Durant, which by the way, I think all well, I think the Warriors, you could argue whether it’s better that they got Butler or Durant, but I’ll tell you where, Jonathan Kigo wouldn’t mind being right now uh an extended member of the Phoenix Suns, but which was probably their plan if they had gotten that deal done. Um Yeah. And and let me just say that when it when it comes to Poison Pill, just so our listeners know what that is because it’s a little bit of an obscure reference. Yeah, if you have signed a contract, um you know, if you’re in the if you’re in your rookie deal, you know, and you’re in your third year, you’re going into your fourth year and you sign a contract, um you become much harder to trade. I’m not going to get into the the uh the chapter and verse of it because I’m afraid I’ll make a mistake and then I’ll have to retract something and Bobby Marks will have to answer for me. But you become harder to trade. But by the way, wouldn’t that be isn’t that also an issue for this year? Not so much the poison pill, but you know, base your compensation. Another terrific CBA term that everyone has to go to their dictionary and look up. Yeah. But but ju just in general, even if they sign him, you know, I think there’s a poss, you know, as they’re negotiating. I’m not saying they would announce this, but as they’re negotiating, they’re thinking we want to sign to a contract that we might be able to trade. I feel comfortable saying both sides as they’re working through this right now are discussing the idea of having you know tradable contracts with the under again the understanding that if you have to have him to at least January 15th which you would if you signed the contract um he could bust out and be you know a 22 point per game score that they don’t want to trade you know situations change in the league as you know and certainly situations can change into January but I think both sides are comfortable if a deal until it’s eventually done, which I think the qualifying offer is on the table. I think which is $8 million, right? Yeah. 7.9. I think uh a drawn out process that ends several ways is still on the table, but if if a compromised contract, I’ve been calling it happens, that is definitely going to be with the understanding that it possibly could get traded come January, February. So, and if you if you take the just for the listeners, if you take the qualifying offer, it means that you get a no trade clause automatically. Yeah. Um, for reasons I won’t get into, if you get traded, you lose your bird rights. That’s why you get a no trade clause. Um, complicated. It’s you lose the the potential to resign with your team, basically. And, um, and basically, you destroy your relationship. There there’s there’s been a few cases. And first off, qualifying offers are relatively rare, and even more rare are guys who take the qualifying offer and then stay with their team long term. I have maybe seen it two or three times in 23 years where a guy t first off I have only seen a couple dozen qualifying offers. It’s that’s pretty rare. Anyway, um the reason I want to go over all this is because when I have Q&As’s um on social media, which I do this time of year, I get a ton of questions about Jonathan Kaminga. There’s a lot of Warriors fans out there who are highly engaged, don’t have anything to talk about, and they want to know with Kaminga. So, thank you for breaking this down. um to shift into some other Warriors um topics. Um Steph gets the hamstring injury. Yeah. In the in the series against the the Wolves. We’ll never know what would happen if he didn’t get that injury. The Wolves were playing pretty good basketball at that point. Um the the Warriors had been through the tough series with the Rockets where they pulled the quote unquote upset, although they were favored in that series, weren’t they? Yeah. Pre- series they were like slight favorites. Yeah. So, but still, you know, they had they did without home court advantage um going upset the Rock. I don’t know if they were they might have been favorite in game seven, too, but still, if you’re on the road for game seven, it’s hard to call you a favorite, but they they win that game. And um so, what would what did you think the chances for the Warriors were had Steph not gotten hurt in that series? You know, it probably would have been somewhat of an uphill climb. It’s they’re internally they’re more confident than I would be, but you know, internally they’re often more confident than I am. I’m more of like kind of just like a skeptical by nature. Um yeah, but believing in Steph is not is not a is not a hot take. I will say this, they were like they were in a wrestling match in round one that that took it out of them to the point that I you know I Steph would would agree and some people in their medical team would agree that it’s there’s a very likely chance that the war that they had in round one is what led to the hamstring. But I will say they’re up 3020 when he tweaks the hamstring. They win that game anyways, right? Um and Steph it was, you know how like game one of series of playoff series and then the next round you’re always like comparing it to the last round and they were just talking about how much freedom they suddenly felt against Minnesota and Steph was talking about how much easier it was for him to to get going and again it was like 11 minutes of basketball. He had 13 points in 13 minutes in the first half of game one. So, it’s tough to like tell him he’s wrong, but it was such a small sample. Who like Minnesota had played horribly. I think Anthony Edwards was like 0 of 10, 0 of 11 to start the game. If you look at their three-point shooting, like I remember, you know, it’s not like you can just take those 13 minutes ago. That’s exactly how it was going to play out. And Steph was going to score easily and a sweep was on the way. But I will say like they will go to their graves believing they were going to win that series. Joe Lacob went on record, me and Marcus Thompson of the athletic uh when they they got beat 4-1. We went into the little like courtside club with Joe Lacob right after and he was like trying to contain himself from putting it on the record cuz they they they hate when they get hypothetical, right? Draymond even had a long thing about this. They hate when you know if somebody’s going to say, “Well, Kyrie got hurt and Kevin Love got hurt and this and that.” But Joe couldn’t help himself. Draymond contributes dramatically to the NBA discourse and he’s a valu but you know he’s known to you know not necessarily 360 degree view of everything but uh my point is yeah like they think yes I will say I think it was going to be a really fun series the Warriors were going to get that game one they were going to it was at least going to be 1-1 going back you know to to Golden State and they almost won game three anyways with Butler and you know Kaminga out of you know uh isolation you know gets put in and plays well you would I think at minimum it’s 22 going back to Minnesota and then it’s a really fun 567 type series. Yeah and I think the reason you can hold on to that is because you’re up 10 without Steph and you know you’re up 10 and then if you had Steph you know you you you had taken um well no they had they had they got home court advantage in that. No they No, they were winning game one advantage. Yeah, they took it. Yeah. Two two days after game seven. So, yeah. Again, I think it’s I think it’s probably 2-2 going back to Minnesota and and it’s it could go either way. So, uh we talked just recently on the podcast. What were they is 22 and five the number with Steph Draymond and Jimmy Butler? At one point it was like 16 and two. Um it was dominant and it was like you know what they would point to more is like it was like top five offense, top five defense. It was like, you know, subsection uh that that screams contender from a rating standpoint, but it was easy schedule. It was a very easy schedule and you had a full throttle Jimmy Butler. Steph went had one of his like nuclear 10ame stretches. I don’t think you could just extrapolate that or however you say it out to 82 games and be like that’s the Warriors you’re going to get because they were in complete sprint mode. They played a lot of tanking teams. It was a soft part of the schedule. the Jimmy Butler vibes were were, you know, completely pumped up, but they did look good and Jimmy looked good with them. Um, yeah. So, I guess my question is, you know, in your view, you’ve covered the Warriors at the very top and at the very bottom. Um, how legitimate is this trio? And you know, as you look at the Western Conference and you look at some teams that have really powered up this off seasonason, excluding the team that they barely beat in the first round, Houston, still great win, but um is this something that is that a trio that is legitimate? You know, that you know, and you know, they say the trio, you know, Draymond’s role is as a as a table setter and a defender. It’s not like it’s a classic big three, but nonetheless, there was a reason why the record was so good when those guys played together. They fit really well. You saw that right away. It was like Jimmy Butler suddenly getting to the line. You look pre-B Butler, they were one of the worst free throw, you know, attempt and, you know, percentage teams in the league. Post Butler, they were one of the best. Um, it was, you know, he he did a lot of like the IQ stuff. Kirk kept calling him uh with with, you know, the chaperone stuff. he likes to say that he does out there. So like the fit was seamless, the their motivation level um was high and I would say like if you line them up completely healthy in a series with almost anybody in the West, I wouldn’t necessarily include the Thunder in this. Like they’re extremely threatening and dangerous and and they could have won that Minnesota series. Uh they did beat a very good Rockets team. Uh and I do think they’re going to have somewhat of an upgraded supporting cast next year. So again, yes, I do think fully healthy they’re threatening, but like how do they get to April completely intact, healthy, fresh, in a good seed, not having to go through the playin, um, and do that all while having to rest, you know, their guys kind of selectively, having to potentially deal with, you know, a Jonathan Kaminga drama situation because I I really do think Kaminga is and I know again I know there’s belief behind the scenes, even from Steve Ker that Kaminga would really matter in a regular season rotation. But how do they get him into a content, happy to be here type mindset uh for the regular season? Cuz if they don’t have that, then, you know, they’re a hamstring tweak away, an ankle sprain away from from having to chase uphill. And I do think that’s part of why they faded in the playoffs is because they were chasing uphill. Well, their playoffs really started like the last two weeks of the season because there was such a fight and scramble for the seeds. I say when Butler arrived, they started. Yeah, I guess that’s true, you know. Yeah, cuz they were they were in a hole. They were like 11th when he got there. That’s right. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I mean I I I’ll put it this way. I mean, Bontemps is sort of famous for tiering the teams. they’re somewhere in that tier between four to 10. You know, we can debate whether it’s, you know, whether it’s because, you know, I think most people, and you can certainly overrule this, but most people think Oklahoma City is in a spot by itself and then Denver is in a second tier. Some people will include Houston in that, some people will include the Clippers. But even if you don’t, either way, like between four and 10, there’s a lot of liquidity there. And the Warriors are in that, but they have two players who have the capability to flip a playoff series by themselves. So, if you’re the Warriors, my guess is you’re looking at two things this year, and again, correct me if I’m wrong. One, as you said, you get to the playoffs with your two guys healthy and not worn out, so that you get into a playoff series and you have those two guys you think can flip it. Secondly, you do what they did last year, which was you lay around and wait to see if you can make a big trade. Um, they have their draft picks going forward. We know that um they’re trying to get Kaminga in a contract he can be traded out of. Um, you know, they have some other pieces, you know, they have a bunch of medium-sized contracts on their team that they can move in and out of deals. They will probably they’re not going to be in the second apron. They’re not going to give Kaminga the max because they’re not going to be in the second apron. So they will be able to aggre right. Am I wrong? I mean they’re not going to be Yeah. I mean part of the potential Al Horford addition would you know would be used in a taxpayer mid level that would second apron cap them. It’s part of the reason they’re being very careful and and you’ve seen them make zero moves because the moment they second apron cap themselves that give a team like Utah a team like Brooklyn who have stayed out of the Kaminga sweep stakes and and I’m not reporting any interest. The Warriors certainly believe Brooklyn doesn’t have interest, but the moment you give them a dollar amount to go, you know, you can go over this dollar amount. Yeah. That they can’t match. Yeah. You can either steal them away or force the Warriors to have to send off a piece with a pick potentially to you. You know what I mean? So like they’ve been that that’s why they’re sitting here with nine players and it’s been nine players and that’s one that’s one of the reasons why Al Horford’s sitting around is that Al Horford there’s various reasons. I mean, look, if Kaminga ends up elsewhere, Al Horford might be able even get a get more money than the non the taxpayer mid-level, but part of the reason why is what you just described is, you know, there’s various reasons why it makes sense to sign later. Yeah, it’s Yeah, it’s a leverage play, but yeah, go ahead. So, yeah, but like you know, the Warriors are hunting for a potential big move as well. Like that’s another thing that will be the case and we’ll watch during the season. and they they hunted last summer, they hunted in the fall, and you know, they they couldn’t pull off some things or whatever, but come February, they had Jimmy Butler. So, um, they I suspect will be doing the same sort of thing. They’ve got Steph Curry, they want to maximize them. They’ve got their draft picks. Like, if they see something that they think can be a big swing, I think they will be in the market for it. Yeah, their draft picks are interesting because they’ve been protective of them. um you know and and post stuff, right? Like you got to be careful of that. But it’s it’s it’s like a two-sided coin where they’re probably overly protective maybe of the future some people would say, but also like if they do decide to just flip one unprotected 29 pick or something like that, the league’s going to be thirsting for it cuz that’s a post Steph Curry that’s true. Warriors pick. It’s valuable. you know, it’s it’s it’s much more valuable than a 29 Spurs pick or, you know, name your team with, you know, an in his Yeah. It’s one of the reasons why people I’ve been talking about, you know, what Portland has. One of the reasons people are high on Portland is that Portland has Milwaukeee’s draft, either the pick or the swap in 28, 29, and 30. Maybe Giannis is still there. Maybe Giannis is gone. Maybe Giannis is diminishing. Like, you know, you’re you’re looking past the current star timeline. It’s one of the reasons why the the Lakers have been careful about giving away their picks in the late 20s and early 30s cuz post LeBron, you know, like so yeah, like that that is, you know, you’re talking about access to something that’s pretty valuable there. It’s also why when they made the Butler trade, they wanted to trade this, you know, past drafts pick because they didn’t want to be handcuffed at all by sending in a future pick. They also didn’t love the the mid to late lottery and and beyond. Um so you know there there’s definitely a lot of like asset management going on behind the scenes uh with this entire situation including like they’ve been very part of the reason that a sign and trade hasn’t got done for Kaminga. There’s been you know particularly the Kings and Suns I would say have been the most aggressive is because the Warriors have been pretty steadfast in their requirement of at least a first round pick. They also want a young player and they don’t want to take on bad contracts. And that’s what’s really, you know, held a lot of this stuff up cuz it’s like not only does the team have to want to sign Jonathan Kaminga, convince Jonathan Kaminga to take this dollar amount and he has high ambitions for his next contract, but also they then have to call the Warriors and and, you know, basically make, you know, a pretty decent value trade where you’re giving up a pick and a young player, that type of stuff. That’s what’s that’s why so much of this stuff is just in gridlock. Yeah. Now, I want to say that Steph Curry in what? He turned 36 last year. He will turn 38. He turned 37 in April. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Last year, let me tell you what his stats were. Let me tell you what his stats were last year. Yeah. He averaged 25 points a game. First off, he played 70 games. Uh it’s pretty good. Last two years, he’s played 74 and 70. um averaged 25 points, 45 uh% uh overall, 40% from three. You can pretty much write that down. 93% at the line, which was his um actually his boy, his best his second best free thresh of his career. Anyway, still averaged six assists. um still playing at a very high level and still doing insane stuff to defenses. It’s it’s those numbers and it is like the defensive attention and gravity that he creates and and and everything their offense is based out of. Like to see him I mean you’ve been there but like to see him in the arena with the way like defenses just morph and like double team and you know chop block away from the ball and all that. Yet in all honesty this will sound trit. I can’t believe his pregame routine. Yeah. that he still, you know, when you’re at a game and it’s March, February, in other words, you’re not really getting playoff ready just yet. And he’s still doing this incredible pregame. I mean, I understand why he does it. It’s what he does, but like I mean, if you don’t come early to a Warriors game to watch him do a pregame routine, you’re you’re not getting your value of your ticket. And like I just can’t believe he is his energy is crazy that he’s able to devote that much energy before the game and still have totally engaged and having fun. Um but he’s got nothing to play for. I mean he’s he’s done everything. Competitive freak. Well, of course. I mean all these title Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um he’s a showman, too. You know, like once they got Butler last year, he went on this surge that a lot of people were crediting with like, hey, he’s kind of got this invigoration. He has a suddenly a belief that they can at least he kept calling it meaningful basketball. That became the big term that that Kerr actually really liked to use. But you go back and look at some of those road games like an Orlando 52 point game uh where he hit like this half quarter and all this stuff like and he had the entire Magic crowd standing rooting for him by the end. And again, half of it was probably Warriors fans, but he did it in Brooklyn. Like he just like, you know, draw like that. That’s where you feel like, look, they’re not probably not going to win the title next year. They weren’t going to win it last year. But it’s like when he puts on these shows in these cities, I would say, is when kind of you get the full appreciation and, you know, a realization as not only him, but his era of star, him, LeBron, Katy, as they kind of fade away. I mean, you’re waiting for kind of these next showmen to to arrive. Yeah, I saw him play at the garden uh this last year, you know, Steph at the Garden. I mean, I was at the game. What year was it? 2012 maybe when he had like that that first like 57. That was the breakout one. That was the one Shumpert I saw on a uh something recently basically talking about he was mad at who was it? It was like it was Raymond Felton uh because he was on that Knicks team. He was saying he was mad at Raymond Felton because he was he said he should have been telling Felton like I got him and he just let Felton have him. Seth scores 52 and his theory was like they unleashed the dragon because from there okay so if it hadn’t happened then he was like yeah he was basically theorizing like if I just guarded him that night he would have never arrived. Listen I love Shamp. I’m not saying a bad word about Shump, but um yes, there was that night it was like this feel of uh like, man, this is what the dreams are made out of basically with Steph. I mean, he had he had had moments like that, you know, at Davidson, but that was like a moment. But anyway, yeah, he’s he’s still great and we should treasure the nights that we still have with him and um treasure your arrival at our company, Anthony Slater. How about that hard turn? That was that was a transition right here. That’s why I came for the for these type of professional transitions. Look, we’re just trying to get through a podcast in late July. You want to know the honest assessment? But hey, Sam A could never transition like that. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that. I think that’s true, actually. Um, all right. Well, we look forward to having you with us and as a part of our collective uh into the future. We’re very excited about your arrival. We’ve been we’ve been trying to get you for years, honestly. you know, it’s like um as long as Jonathan Kaminga’s been trying to get paid, we try to hand this later at ESPN. So, we’re we’re very happy to have him and uh thank you for coming on and we talking Warriors and just West Coast Western Conference NBA throughout the season. All right. Appreciate you having me. All right. Thanks, man.

Brian Windhorst is joined by a new member of the ESPN family Anthony Slater to discuss the Warriors’ lack of moves so far this offseason, updates on the Jonathan Kuminga situation and what is slowing down an Al Horford deal. Then, the guys discuss how dangerous this Golden State team could be this upcoming season and what Steph Curry has left in the tank.

0:00 Intro
0:31 Welcome to ESPN, Anthony Slater!
2:22 No Moves From Warriors So Far
3:22 Expectations For Kuminga’s Future
16:34 Injuries ended Warriors’ season?
20:21 How Dangerous is Golden State?
26:41 Still Big Moves On Table For Warriors?
29:29 Curry still able to amaze with age

☑️ Subscribe to ESPN+: https://plus.espn.com/​​​​​
📱Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn​​​​​
🏀 Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2yxs3Og​​​​​
☑️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE​​​​​
☑️Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV​​