Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., who spent a year as teammates with Paul George in Indiana in 2010/11, “led the charge” in the team’s efforts to acquire the star forward from the Clippers in June before George declined his player option and became a free agent this summer, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
As Slater outlines, Dunleavy got Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and head coach Steve Kerr involved in the recruitment of George, who was on board with the idea of picking up his player option and getting traded to Golden State. However, the Clippers decided they’d be better off not taking on significant salary in a trade with the Warriors.
“Paul George wanted to come here,” Green said. “So shout out to Mike. The Clippers just wouldn’t do (an opt-in and trade).”
There’s still some “fading frustration” within the organization about the failed pursuit of George, according to Slater, who says the Warriors may argue the Clippers underestimated their chances of losing the forward for nothing in free agency.
While Golden State’s subsequent pursuit of Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen was viewed as a Plan B after missing out on George, Slater says it was actually part of Plan A and that the Warriors wanted to land both players.
“The conversation was always about that possibility,” Green said. “You get both of those guys, you make a huge splash. But the Clippers weren’t really willing to play ball. Then (Jazz CEO) Danny Ainge was being Danny Ainge.”
The Warriors had hoped they’d be able to acquire George while preserving enough assets to meet Ainge’s asking price for Markkanen, Slater explains, but after striking out on PG13, it didn’t make as much sense for the team to go all-in for Markkanen.
“Mike is very sensible,” Kerr said. “He just said to me, ‘It doesn’t make sense to sell your entire future for a team that you think can be pretty good, but isn’t awesome, right?’ Especially at this stage with the ages of our stars.”
Here’s more out of Golden State:
- The Warriors also spoke to the Timberwolves about a possible Karl-Anthony Towns trade before he was dealt from Minnesota to New York, league sources tell Slater. However, the Wolves targeted a specific Knicks package that the Warriors couldn’t replicate.
- Despite striking out on top trade targets this summer, the Warriors are high on the players they added – Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield, and De’Anthony Melton – and are more bullish than outsiders about their chances this season. According to Slater, the Warriors’ internal models have them in the top six in the West and there has been talk within the organization that 50-plus wins should be the expectation.
- Still, that doesn’t mean the Warriors won’t continue to keep an eye out for a chance to acquire an impact player who could help take them to the next level. “We’re sitting about as good as we could, subject to the point that we didn’t catch the big fish that we were going after,” team owner Joe Lacob told Slater. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t. It just means we didn’t yet.”
- Dunleavy told reporters on Tuesday that the Warriors aren’t concerned about not having reached an agreement on a contract extension for Jonathan Kuminga before Monday’s deadline, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). “Not much has changed in regards to our hopes for his future with this team,” Dunleavy said. “Sometimes these things get done, sometimes they don’t. … Hope to get something done in the offseason.”
Wait, Steph, PG13, Markkanen, Green isn’t awesome? Pretty hard to get that done and George injury history and all noted. PG still plays high level both ends, keeping him on the courts another issue.
The Kerr quote was about giving up a ton for Markkanen after missing out on George.
Even if they got PG and Lauri… They’d of traded their depth for stars and have no bench…
With Draymond and PG on that roster they’d need all the depth they could get…
And Steph and Lauri ain’t exactly 82 game players either…
What depth. Unproven players. Curry is still elite. Ask David J.
I think they assumed that PG tells the Clips hes out and its something or nothing so they get Moody and CP3s salary with Loon and a couple less valuable draft assets. You then pivot and deal for Lauri with draft assets plus Podz or something. You then can attract the ring chasers to fill out the roster because you did this all ahead of FA.
Exactly Chapman. Well said and spelled out perfectly.
Bizarre. The scheme assumes, first, that the Clips would give up George for basically nothing (which we know is wrong), and, then, that Ainge would happily give up Markkanen for the assets the Dubs had left over.
More bizarre: Draymond leaking all this. Sure, it helps his podcasts’ ratings, but the team sure as hell didn’t give him permission, and it doesn’t help the morale of the young players (esp Kuminga and Podz) to read in the media that they were offered up, especially when Lakob has been telling the media that they weren’t.