This NBA Team Has Done Nothing…

This NBA Team Has Done Nothing…

The NBA offseason fully kicked off basically back on June 15th when the Orlando Magic traded for Desmond Bane. And then on June 30th, NBA free agency started. That was over 4 weeks ago now. And if you just look at any NBA team and what they did this off seasonason, you would see a plethora of moves either resigning their players, trading for players, or going out and signing players in free agency. But there’s one team that hasn’t done any of that right now, the Golden State Warriors. If you look at who the Warriors signed this offseason, it’s an NA. If you look at the additions, it’s an NA and they lost Cavon Mooney very early in free agency to the New Orleans Pelicans. And there’s a big reason why the Golden State Warriors haven’t done anything this offseason as of now. They have the biggest free agent still on the market in Jonathan Kuminga. Jonathan Kuminga along with Josh Giddy, Cam Thomas, and Quinn Grimes are all major free agents still on the market, and they all have one thing in common. They’re restricted free agents. So, something that’s very interesting right now and especially in the 2025 NBA offseason, nobody really had cap space. And you guys know how restricted free agency works. If a team wants to sign you, they can go out and offer you a deal. But the team that has your restricted rights can match any single offer. The problem is nobody can give Josh Giddy or Jonathan Kuminga what they want. So, Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors are kind of in a standoff right now. And there’s a chance there could be a sign and trade happening. We know that the New Orleans Pelicans, the Miami Heat, the Sacramento Kings, and the Chicago Bulls have all been linked to Jonathan Kuminga at some point this off seasonason. And most recently, after buying out Bradley Beal, the Phoenix Suns have been involved in the Jonathan Kuminga sign and trade talks. The Warriors also didn’t own their first round pick in the 2025 draft that went to the Miami Heat from the Jimmy Butler trade. So, they did have two second rounders. They used one on Alex Tui from Sydney and the other one on Will Richard from Florida. And the Golden State Warriors are also employing one of the highest paid players in the NBA in Steph Curry, who’s going to be making $59.6 million in 2026 at 37 years old, which takes up 38.5% of the Warriors total cap space. They also have another top 20 highest paid player in the NBA on their books in a 36-year-old Jimmy Butler who’s making $54 million, 35% of the total cap space. And then the only other players that are under contract right now, Draymond Green at $25.8 $.8 million, Moses Moody at $1.5 million, Buddy Heield at $9.2 million, and then you have Brandon Pojumpsky, Ge Santos, Trace Jackson Davis, and Quidden Post, all making $4 million or less. And this was a 2025 Warriors team that looked like one of the best teams in the NBA in the second half of the season after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. Steph Curry was turning the clocks back a little bit and looked maybe the best he has since that 2022 Finals run. And there was a way with how the playoff seating ended up for the Golden State Warriors to make it to the conference finals. They were able to draw an inexperienced Houston Rockets team in round number one. They upseted them as a 17 even though we all kind of expected them to win with their experience or at least I did. And there’s a chance they definitely could have beat the Minnesota Timberwolves who beat the Lakers in round number one and then Steph Curry suffered his first hamstring injury of his career and then they ended up losing in five. And with Steph being at 37 years old and Jimmy Butler being at 36 years old when the season starts, the window is closing for Golden State. They didn’t get involved in the Bradley Beal sweepstakes. He quickly signed with the LA Clippers after getting bought out from the Phoenix Suns. I thought that could have been somewhat of an interesting destination. They missed out on Brook Lopez who ended up going to the LA Clippers. They could have gotten involved in the Miles Turner sweep stakes, but that didn’t end up happening. They missed out on other top big men as well. Santi Alama went back to the Grizzlies. Luke Cornett went to the San Antonio Spurs. They lost Kavon Mooney, Clinkapella return to the Houston Rockets. And this is all because they have to figure out what’s going on with Jonathan Kuminga. Is Jonathan Kaminga going to get his way and get the $30 million he wants on the open market? Something that we thought he could have maybe received after the 2024 season he had where he had the best year of his career. Kuminga ended up putting up 16 points, five rebounds, two assists, and shot 53% from the field across 74 games. But he was banged up in 2025 in and out of the starting rotation. and the field goal, three-point, and free throw percentage all dropped. He went from 16 points per game in 2024 to 15 points per game in 2025 and did not look like he fit the Steve Kerr offense whatsoever. At least this version of Jonathan Kuminga. And with them going out and acquiring Jimmy Butler, there isn’t really a clear path for Jonathan Kuminga to get over 15 shots tonight. Something that him and his camp want him to get for his progression going forward in his career. He could probably get that in Chicago or Sacramento or maybe even Phoenix if they can work out a sign and trade to one of those destinations. I think the Sacramento Kings are a fascinating sign and trade team for Jonathan Kaminga because they have some players that I think could fit Golden State system. Keon Ellis, Devin Carter, Keegan Murray, even Malik Monk. If there’s a scenario where Golden State can get two of those players for Kaminga, you have to jump all over that if you’re Mike Dunley because this two timeline approach ended up turning into a disaster for Golden State. At one point, we thought James Wisman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody were going to be the next generation of stars in Golden State after Steph, Clay, and Draymond retired. And none of those players really hit their potential. And who would have thought that Moses Moody was going to be the expected longest lasted warrior from that young core? They definitely did well drafting over the last few years given their draft positions. He had a disappointing start to his second year in the NBA, but Brandon Poemsky has definitely outplayed the value of somebody that was selected 19th overall. Trace Jackson Davis has definitely outplayed his value selected at 57th overall. Quinn Post was selected with the 52nd pick in the 2024 draft and definitely looked more than capable of playing in the NBA for somebody that was one of the last picks in the whole 2024 week draft. And now the Warriors do own all their first round picks going forward. There is one lightly protected first round pick down the line from the Chris Paul trade, but this is a team that really has to get creative over the last few weeks of free agency. Now, I am expecting them to get at least two more notable free agents on the market. The first one is Al Horford. I feel like Al Horford would have retired by now, but all sides are pointing to him signing with the Golden State Warriors. He could have ended up in Denver if Jonas Valunis decided to go play in Greece. And now Horford is coming off a season where he played 60 games for the fourth straight season. He’s going to be 40 years old in a year from now. And he averaged nine points, six rebounds, and two assists last year. He shot 36% from three in the regular season. Exactly what the Warriors need in that front court. Still a serviceable defender at 39 years old. Al Horford could still be a solid rotational player if you’re playing him around 20 to 25 minutes a night. If it’s anything more than that, I think you’re asking way too much for somebody at his age. And I think all sides are pointing to the Golden State Warriors having a reunion with DeAnthony Meltton, who looked like a very solid Warrior at the start of the 2025 season, who looked like he was having a bounceback season after a down year with Philadelphia in 2024. He was averaging 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, and shooting 37% from three, but unfortunately tearing his ACL six games into the 2025 season. And then he was then later traded for Dennis Shruder at one point in the 2025 season. He’ll be 27 years old next year, but coming off an ACL tear, you may be asking too much out of DeAnthony Melton if you’re asking him to play your seventh or eighth highest minutes in your rotation. And the Western Conference has gotten better around them this offseason. The same Rockets team that almost came back three to one that pushed them to a game seven added Kevin Durant this off season. The Denver Nuggets added Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardway Jr., and Jonas Valentinis. They’re getting Don Holmes back and then the best player in the world in Nicole Joic. The Oklahoma City Thunder just won the NBA Finals and are bringing everybody back. Basically swapping out Dylan Jones for Nicola Topic. And that’s not even me mentioning the LA Clippers who added Chris Paul, Bradley Beal, John Collins, Yanakon Netherhauser, and Brook Lopez this offseason or the Minnesota Timberwolves that were able to resign Julius Randall and Nas Reed who beat them last year in the conference semi-finals. And who knows what the Lakers could look like next year with a first full year with Bukadaches. They added DeAndre Aiden and Marcus Smart. And that’s not even mentioning the San Antonio Spurs who are going to get Webby back healthy, De’ar Fox for a full year, the incoming number two pick Dylan Harper, or the Dallas Mavericks who are going to have Anthony Davis and Cooper Flag and eventually Kyrie Irving back at one point next year. I don’t think the Warriors are a tier one team in the West. They’re maybe barely a tier 2 team, but probably a tier three team right now, and you’re asking a lot out of an aging Jimmy, Steph, and Draymond Core with not a lot of depth around them. What if one of those guys gets hurt next year, which is definitely realistic given their age and the mileage in their careers? And with Jimmy and Steph making up 73% of their cap space, it really limits them with their mid-level exception or their taxpayer exceptions and filling out roster spots because teams around them can just outbid them. So, I’m going to be very fascinated to see what Golden State does over the next few weeks and how they’re going to try to maximize this Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond window. Do you guys think that Golden State can somehow turn into a contender at some point throughout this off seasonason on paper? because we definitely need to see them play in the 2026 season. It looked like they could have maybe made a run in the second half last year, but I think we were saying time and time again, this roster is not good enough. And unless there’s a Moses Moody or a Brandon Pojansky breakout, unless Al Horford, DeAnthony Melton can turn this team around, or maybe it’s either Jonathan Kuminga or the assets they get back for Jonathan Kuminga can really complete this roster. This team just may be okay with losing in round number one and at least competing with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler in the final years of their careers because the big three, the aging big three are all free agents after the 2027 season and they may just try to rival the Clippers and reset the market and retool their team when it’s a loaded free agency class two years from now. So yeah, let me know what you guys think about the Golden State Warriors positioning. Do you think they fumbled this off seasonason or do you think it’s wise for them to be patient and try to maximize the Jonathan Kuminga situation? If you guys did enjoy it, appreciate you dropping a thumbs up. Hit that subscribe button for more NBA content all offseason long. And I’ll catch you guys in the next one. Peace. [Music]

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