Golden State Warriors Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Warriors Rumors: Draymond, Core Trio, Poole, More

May 15th, 2023 at 3:42pm CST by Rory Maher

While the future of president of basketball operations Bob Myers remains uncertain, the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are still likely to be on the Warriors‘ roster in 2023/24, sources tell Marc Stein at Substack.

That aligns with reporting from Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, who hears that the franchise is “in no rush” to break up the core that has won four championships together.

After Green famously punched Jordan Poole during training camp, it seemed unlikely the former Defensive Player of the Year, who holds a $27.6MM player option for next season, would remain in the team’s long-term plans.

However, he won back the team’s respect over the course of the season, according to Kawakami, who says that Curry has long considered Green his “first pick” as a teammate. Kawakami also notes that Green’s value on the open market may be limited and he’s “more valuable to the Warriors and with the Warriors than anywhere else.”

Thompson, meanwhile, will be entering the final year of his contract and eligible for a veteran extension, but there’s no indication the team has any plans to trade him at this point — quite the opposite.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Green has said he’s undecided on whether nor not he’ll pick up his player option, but either way, he wants to “be a Warrior for life.” A report from The Athletic indicated that the team intends to discuss a multiyear contract with the big man, though it didn’t specify if that would be a new deal or an extension if he exercises his option. It sounds like it might be the former — sources tell Logan Murdock of The Ringer that the Warriors would be open to a multiyear contract if Green declines his option.
Murdock’s story is full of interesting details on Golden State’s season. He writes that not only did Green punching Poole negatively impact their own relationship — Poole viewed Green as a mentor during his first three seasons — but it also deepened the divide between the old guard and the team’s young players. “I don’t have no answer for you,” Poole said of his relationship with Green. “Other than that, we was just on the court and teammates, and we was out there trying to win games. What I do recall saying at the beginning of the season is that, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to come out here. We’re going to play on the court. We’re going to try to win a championship.’ We were teammates. It’s just business, honestly. And that’s really all it was, it is, it has been. It’s just been business. It’s been basketball.”
The free agency departures of Otto Porter, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Gary Payton II (who was later re-acquired at the trade deadline) also played a factor in the divide, according to Murdock. Not only did having the veterans stabilize the rotation, but they held the respect of both the old and young players. This season, the young players grew frustrated with their lack of minutes, Murdock writes. “That’s the normal NBA, and we haven’t had to deal with normal NBA,” Andre Iguodala told Murdock last month. “We’ve been in fantasyland for so long, and this year was more like the real NBA.”
Poole was criticized throughout the season — and particularly in the postseason — for his shot selection, turnovers and poor defense. Yet after the Game 5 victory against the Lakers, Curry told Murdock that Poole was “the key” to bridging the present and the future, showing the Warriors still have faith in the 23-year-old.
Poole’s future is reportedly up in the air, as the team might explore the trade market for him if it decides to make a cost-cutting move with the new CBA about to kick in. “I don’t know why I wouldn’t be [back],” Poole told Murdock. “It wasn’t a bad year. I mean, career highs in two categories. I was able to make history with Klay and Steph. My first game-winner. It was a lot of good things that happened this season. It wasn’t a bad season. Yes, I’m in the fabric. Yes, I belong here in this organization, bridging the gap. And I’m a young guy who was drafted here. We won a championship last year, and we have another chance to do it again. And I don’t know why anybody else would feel otherwise. I don’t think anybody is thinking like that.”

Bob Myers’ Future With Warriors Remains Uncertain

May 15th, 2023 at 2:12pm CST by Rory Maher

Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers, whose contract expires at the end of next month, “plans to take a couple of weeks” to determine what he wants to do in the future, telling ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that he’s “torn” on returning largely due to his close relationships with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr (Twitter video link).

That aligns with a recent report from Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, who heard from sources that Myers was going to take some time before coming to a decision.

One interesting part of Shelburne’s report that got lost in the shuffle was that owner Joe Lacob pitched lucrative contract offers to Myers that would have given him the flexibility to take time off if he so desired. Reading between the lines, it’s clear that the team is well aware of Myers’ career uncertainty.

Myers is the most likely of that longtime core group to depart the Warriors, sources tell Marc Stein in his latest article at Substack. There’s a “strong expectation” within the organization that if Myers doesn’t re-sign, he’s more likely to take “at least” the 2023/24 season off to spend time with family rather than join a rival front office, according to Stein.

A two-time Executive of the Year, Myers is a former college basketball player (UCLA) and sports agent who has been an executive with the Warriors since 2011, winning four championships. A recent report from The Athletic indicated that VP of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr. may take over for Myers if he decides not to return.

Stephen Curry Still Anticipates More Title Runs

May 14th, 2023 at 8:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Stephen Curry is still hopeful of getting another championship with the Warriors, Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports writes. “You can’t win it every year, but you wanna be in the position to be serious contenders,” Curry said after the Warriors were eliminated by the Lakers. “Final eight, you can retool and be back.”

Warriors Notes: DiVincenzo, Kuminga, Myers, Green, Thompson

May 13th, 2023 at 10:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

There are questions about whether the Warriors can make it work financially, but Donte DiVincenzo would like to remain with the team, writes C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle. Speaking to reporters Saturday, DiVincenzo said he hasn’t decided whether to pick up his $4.7MM player option for next season or decline it and seek a long-term deal, either with Golden State or another team. The Warriors are limited to a new offer starting at $5.4MM, which would be 120% of this year’s salary.

The team signed DiVincenzo last summer to fortify its bench, which was his role for most of the season. He was inserted into the starting lineup during Andrew Wiggins‘ late-season absence, and he started the playoff opener. However, once Wiggins showed he was ready to contribute, DiVincenzo went back to the bench and struggled to find his shooting rhythm for the rest of the postseason.

“What I will say is I absolutely love being a Golden State Warrior,” he said. “The guys in the locker room, the coaching staff, the training staff, from day one, it’s felt like home. … My goal this summer is to just get better. You know, to be able to take a step next year for the Warriors and try to expand even more; to be in a system I’m familiar with and just grow from there and get better as a player and as a man.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

A report after Friday’s loss indicated that Jonathan Kuminga‘s representatives might consider seeking a change of scenery for their client this summer, but the second-year forward said his exit interview with management went well, Holmes adds. “(The Warriors are) just happy with the way I have grown,” Kuminga said. “Pretty much they want me to keep adding on what I did this year, keep learning the game and just growing more, figuring out how I can impact even more on winning. And I think that’s been my goal, to just figure out how I can impact on winning.”
President of basketball operations Bob Myers plans to take some time to decide on his future, sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Owner Joe Lacob made several extension offers to Myers during the season that would have given him one of the highest salaries among league executives, along with an option to take some time off if he wanted to, Shelburne’s sources add. Myers’ current contract will expire June 30, and Shelburne hears that he’s not sure if he wants to stay in his job.
Myers’ decision may affect the Warriors’ ability to reach extension agreements with Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, Shelburne adds. The organization’s financial status means both players will likely have to accept team-friendly contracts, and Myers is known for his ability to handle those type of delicate negotiations. Green said Myers’ future will definitely be a factor he considers as he weighs his own decision, according to Mark Medina of Sportsnaut.

Jordan Poole Talks About Training Camp Punch From Draymond Green

May 13th, 2023 at 5:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

The punch that Draymond Green threw at Jordan Poole during a training camp practice session was an early sign of a divided team, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Insider link). The Warriors‘ front office had hoped to develop a young group of players who could eventually take over for the veteran core, but sources tell Shelburne the strategy created a tension between the two groups that still persists.

Shelburne notes that neither participant has offered much public comment on the incident, but Poole told her this week that he believed it was important to handle the situation with grace.

“I don’t speak on it much,” he said. “But I will say that … you’ve got to have a different level of maturity. We had a season to play. You’re going to have to play with these people in the locker room, and that’s why I said maturity is a big thing. What I know for a fact is there aren’t many people who would be able to think logically and understand the magnitude of the situation, you know?”

The punch was preceded by a verbal exchange between the two players, which led to Green walking over to Poole and confronting him. Poole shoved Green in the chest to move him away, and Green responded by hitting Poole in the face and knocking him down, then standing over him before coaches and teammates rushed in to break them up.

Underlying the skirmish was speculation about their respective futures with the organization. Poole was eligible for a rookie scale extension, which he received a week later — it could be worth as much as $140MM over four years. Green has a $27.6MM player option for 2023/24, and although the Warriors intend to discuss a new multiyear contract, there’s no guarantee he’ll be back with the team next season.

Green and Poole kept their lockers next to each other and tried to maintain business as usual, but the atmosphere around the team was different, Shelburne adds. Poole’s play regressed and he became an easy target for fans and media over the team’s defensive problems.

Poole also became noticeably quieter, both with his teammates and reporters, but sources tell Shelburne the frustrations that he and other young players harbored were well known in the locker room. While Poole failed to deliver on the promise that led to his extension, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody weren’t able to earn consistent rotation minutes and James Wiseman was sent to the G League for a while before being shipped to Detroit at the trade deadline.

Another unresolved issue is how video footage of the incident, which was shot by team personnel, was leaked to TMZ. The Warriors launched an internal investigation to identify the culprit, but Shelburne states that no one was ever held publicly accountable.

“People changed after that,” a team source told Shelburne. “Everybody was suspicious for a while.”

Warriors Rumors: Myers, Dunleavy, Kuminga, Poole, Looney

May 13th, 2023 at 8:56am CST by Luke Adams

While the Warriors have some significant decisions to make on key players this offseason, their most notable free agent might be president of basketball operations Bob Myers, whose contract with the organization expires on June 30.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob has expressed a desire to sign Myers to a new contract and keep him at the top of the team’s front office hierarchy. However, if the veteran executive departs, there’s an expectation that Golden State will replace him with an internal promotion rather than launching a full-fledged search, according to Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of The Athletic, who identify vice president of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr. as Myers’ “natural successor.”

Here’s more on the Warriors’ offseason following their season-ending loss to the Lakers on Friday:

The Warriors are expected to have a conversation with Jonathan Kuminga‘s representatives this offseason about the young forward’s future, per Slater and Charania. Kuminga showed promise in his second NBA season, but saw his minutes fluctuate and wasn’t part of the regular rotation in the playoffs. If Kuminga isn’t assured of a full-time role in Golden State going forward, he may prefer to be somewhere he can play more, sources tell The Athletic.
Jordan Poole‘s future with the Warriors is very much up in the air following a disappointing postseason, according to Slater and Charania, who suggest that the four-year veteran could be the odd man out if cost cutting is necessary. Poole’s four-year, $123MM extension will go into effect in 2023/24. Tim Kawakami of The Athletic explores the topic in more detail, writing that Poole isn’t necessarily part of Golden State’s core and suggesting that the team will probably explore the trade market for him this summer.
As a result of the Warriors’ second-round playoff exit, Kevon Looney missed out on a $1MM bonus and Poole forfeited $500K in bonus money, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Those incentives will now be considered unlikely in 2023/24, slightly reducing both players’ cap charges.
Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype and John Hollinger of The Athletic preview the Warriors’ offseason, both noting that the team will be hard-pressed to re-sign key role player Donte DiVincenzo, who is a near lock to decline his player option. The Warriors will only have DiVincenzo’s Non-Bird rights, limiting them to offering a 20% raise on this year’s $4.5MM salary.

Warriors, Draymond Green Expected To Discuss Multiyear Deal

May 13th, 2023 at 7:47am CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors intend to discuss a multiyear contract with Draymond Green this offseason, according to Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of The Athletic. Green holds a $27.6MM player option for 2023/24, so if he were to agree to a longer-term deal with Golden State, he could either opt in and complete an extension or opt out and sign a brand new contract.

Green told Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) after a season-ending Game 6 loss to the Lakers on Friday that he has yet to make a decision on his player option and will take some time to weigh his options with agent Rich Paul.

Green wasn’t on the floor for the final 10 minutes of the Warriors’ season on Friday night, having exited the game early in the fourth quarter due to foul trouble and then being ruled out because of right calf tightness (Twitter link). But he doesn’t want that to be how his tenure in Golden State ends, telling reporters after the game that he hopes to remain with the Warriors for years to come.

“I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life,” Green said, per The Athletic. “I want to ride out with the same dudes I rode in with.”

Head coach Steve Kerr stated after Friday’s loss that this year’s version of the Warriors was “not a championship team,” as Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports tweets. However, Slater and Charania say there’s still an internal belief within the organization that a roster built around Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Green can compete for titles, so there will be a desire to keep that core together going forward, despite the fact that they’re 35, 33, and 33 years old, respectively.

The new restrictions for taxpaying teams that will be phased in over the next couple seasons as part of the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement will make it more difficult for the Warriors to carry a substantial payroll indefinitely. That will be a factor the club will have to take into account when negotiating with Green and when exploring a new deal for Thompson, who is extension-eligible this offseason.

According to The Athletic’s reporters, if Thompson is going to sign an extension with the Warriors this offseason, the expectation is that he’ll have to take a pay cut in order to secure a longer-term deal and more overall guaranteed money. He’s set to earn $43.2MM in 2023/24 in the final season of his current contract.

Slater and Charania suggest that Andrew Wiggins‘ extension could serve as a point of comparison for Thompson’s next deal — Wiggins earned $33.6MM in 2022/23 and agreed to a four-year extension that will be worth $109MM ($27.25MM per year). A new contract for Thompson could be worth more than that, but would presumably require a similar reduction in annual salary. The same thinking could apply for Green’s next contract as well.

Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins Available For Game 6

May 12th, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Rory Maher

Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, who was previously listed as questionable after sustaining a left costal cartilage fracture (the area of the rib cage that connects the ribs to the sternum), has officially been upgraded to available for Friday’s Game 6 against the Lakers, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.

Andrews reported earlier today that Golden State was hopeful Wiggins would be able to suit up despite dealing with the injury. He went through his pregame routine and felt good enough to play.

According to Andrews, the Warriors believe Wiggins suffered the fracture in the fourth quarter of Game 5, which the team won in no small part due to his efforts. Wiggins was clearly in pain after the game and tried to downplay the severity of the injury by saying he’d be OK, but an MRI later revealed the fracture, sources tell Andrews.

Wiggins is wearing a protective pad on his chest, telling Andrews (via Twitter) that he’s feeling better today than he was yesterday.

Head coach Steve Kerr said he hadn’t discussed a minutes restriction for Wiggins, but added he would be monitoring the former No. 1 overall pick based on “his movement, his feeling, how effective he can be,” per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Through 12 playoff games (34.5 minutes) in 2022/23, the 28-year-old is averaging 17.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on .468/.311/.698 shooting. The defending champions trail their second-round series with the Lakers 3-2, so it’s another must-win game for the Warriors.

Pacific Notes: Payton, Looney, Suns, Clippers

May 12th, 2023 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The impact that Gary Payton II is having in the postseason is validating for certain members of the Warriors‘ front office who were adamantly opposed to letting the guard walk in free agency last summer, says Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.

Payton has entered the Warriors’ starting lineup for the last two games of the team’s series vs. the Lakers and has scored double-digit points in both contests. Besides totaling 28 points on 11-of-14 (78.6%) shooting in those two games, Payton is a plus-28 in approximately 51 minutes of action and has helped the Dubs shore up their defense.

“Gary’s a game-changer and we knew that last year,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “We don’t win the championship without Gary. So to get him back has completely changed our defense. … And then offensively, he’s so unique with his speed and his ability to finish around the rim. So it’s just, we’re a different team now that he’s back with us.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

ESPN’s Kendra Andrews takes a deep dive into how Kevon Looney, who once had his fourth-year rookie scale team option declined, has become such a crucial part of the Warriors‘ rotation.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report examines what’s next for the Suns after their second-round exit, noting that the team will need to prioritize improving its depth this summer after having too top-heavy a roster this spring.
Rival executives are curious to see which Clippers veterans may end up on the trade block this summer and are skeptical about the team’s ability to break through and win a title with its current core, writes Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I’m not sure what they can do,” one source told Bulpett. “They’re not going to get value for (Paul George or Kawhi Leonard) in any sort of deals. They just miss too many games, and that’s ruined the culture. It’s ruined the culture of the Clippers. Not knowing from night to night if you’re going to have PG or Kawhi just killed them. They didn’t know who was playing on any given night. It’s a train wreck. They’ve got some really good character guys on their team, but the culture is bad.”
In a pair of mailbags for The Athletic, Law Murray makes the case for why the Clippers shouldn’t blow up their roster this offseason, explores the likelihood of Russell Westbrook and Mason Plumlee re-signing in Los Angeles, considers which young Clippers might be in line for increased roles in 2023/24, and answers several more questions from readers.

Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins Questionable For Game 6

May 11th, 2023 at 9:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins has seen his status downgraded to questionable ahead of his team’s must-win Game 6 against the Lakers on Friday, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Slater reports that Wiggins has suffered a left costal cartilage fracture. This is the area of the rib cage that connects the ribs to the sternum.

It’s discouraging news for the Warriors, who are coming off a blowout 121-106 Game 5 win over Los Angeles on Wednesday. In that victory, Wiggins scored 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, his best output in 12 playoff games this season. He also pulled down seven rebounds, dished out an assist and notched one steal.

For the series, the 6’7″ combo forward out of Kansas is averaging 16.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 0.6 SPG across 33.2 MPG. The Lakers still lead the Warriors 3-2, meaning Golden State will have to win out to advance to its second straight Western Conference Finals appearance.

If Wiggins sits, it will be fascinating to see which player head coach Steve Kerr opts to insert into his starting lineup. Among Warriors players already seeing rotation minutes in this series, Moses Moody makes the most positional sense, but perhaps Kerr will decide to reinsert a bigger floor spacer like JaMychal Green back into his first five, or shift center Kevon Looney to a starting role and move Draymond Green back to power forward.