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Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Tax Concerns, Green, Curry

April 12th, 2023 at 11:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors haven’t determined when Andrew Wiggins will resume playing, but there’s optimism that he’ll be ready when their playoff series with the Kings begins Saturday, writes C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Wiggins has participated in two scrimmages since returning to the team last week, and coach Steve Kerr said he was impressive both times. Kerr added that Wiggins will be watched closely for the rest of the week as team officials try to determine whether he can play in Game 1, if he will start, and what type of minutes restriction he might be under.

“A lot of good, positive signs have come out of this past week, and we’ll just play it by ear as we get ready for Saturday,” Kerr said.

General manager Bob Myers expressed similar sentiments in a radio appearance Wednesday, according to Holmes, and Wiggins’ teammates are getting excited about the prospect of bringing back one of the key pieces of last year’s title team.

“He looked good,” Stephen Curry said of Wiggins’ scrimmage performances. “He, for the most part, played most of the action we had. He really hasn’t lost a step. I know it’s just scrimmaging and getting back into the pace of live basketball, but he looked pretty spry, fresh legs. And hopefully that bodes well for his return this weekend.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

Even though they’re the defending champs, the Warriors may need a long playoff run to keep the core of the team together, states Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Draymond Green has a $27.6MM player option this summer on the final year of his contract, and Klay Thompson will be eligible for a new extension. Contract extensions for Wiggins and Jordan Poole will kick in next season, and a new CBA contains harsher restrictions for teams that far exceed the luxury tax threshold. Marcus Thompson notes that the team has a projected salary and tax bill for next year that could approach $500MM, which owner Joe Lacob has called untenable.
Green said on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast that he would like to play four more seasons and retire as a Warrior, relays Shayna Rubin of The East Bay Times. “I would love to finish my career here,” he said. “That’s been my goal since signing this current contract that I’m on. It’s looking like a more realistic thing to be finishing here. And I also don’t want to play 20 years in the NBA, I want to play 15 years in the NBA. In four more years, it’s likely I’ll be contributing at a high level and living up to the contract I’ll be on. As far as the probability, I can’t give you that because it isn’t up to me. If it was up to me, I can tell you 100 percent I would finish my career here.”
Curry’s new deal with Under Armour includes shares of the company worth $75MM, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

California Notes: Powell, Thompson, Kings, Lakers

April 7th, 2023 at 4:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers reserve guard Norman Powell appears to be rediscovering his fighting form of late. In his most recent contest, a 125-118 win over the Lakers Wednesday, Powell notched a team-high 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register.

“I think it’s like my fourth game back coming off injury after missing 11 games so it was just being prepared and just staying mentally locked in and as (head coach Tyronn) Lue says, not playing so angry,” Powell said. “It just shows how much I love the game and how much I commit to it, and my preparation every single day.”

Playing in his first full season with the Clippers, the 6’3″ swingman is averaging 16.7 PPG on .476/.404/.815 shooting splits. All but eight of his 58 healthy contests have come off the team’s bench.

There’s more out of California:

Starting Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson has been dealing with a sore back of late, but head coach Steve Kerr said on Friday that the 6’7″ vet is feeling better and was a full practice participant today, Kendra Andrews of ESPN tweets.
The 48-32 Kings could be without several notable players against the Warriors tonight, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee tweets. All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are both questionable with ankle injuries. Shooting guard Kevin Huerter is managing his own injury, while rookie power forward Keegan Murray has a foot ailment. The statuses of forward Trey Lyles and guards Davion Mitchell and Malik Monk are also up-in-the-air. If Sacramento wins out and the Grizzlies lose out, the Kings would be able to secure the West’s second seed by benefit of a tiebreaker, but it appears the team is happy with its current No. 3 seed.
Despite a clean injury sheet, the healthy Lakers‘ loss against a Clippers team missing All-Star forward Paul George exposes the club as being less than title-caliber, opines Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Plaschke notes that stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James were clearly playing through ailments, and the rest of the team failed to step up to meet the moment.

Warriors Notes: Quinones, Thompson, Wiggins

April 5th, 2023 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors guard Lester Quinones, who is on a two-way contract with the team, was named the NBA G League’s Most Improved Player for the 2022/23 season, according to an announcement from the league (Twitter link).

Unlike in the NBA, the G League’s Most Improved Player award is given to the player who exhibits the most improvement over the course of the season rather than from one year to the next.

Quinones, who finished the NBAGL regular season with averages of 21.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game, was especially productive down the stretch, putting up 27.7 PPG on .477/.381/.743 shooting in his last six games for the Santa Cruz Warriors. He previously averaged 17.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.6 APG during Showcase Cup play in the fall.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Veteran sharpshooter Klay Thompson was a late scratch on Tuesday due to lower back soreness, but head coach Steve Kerr said the decision was precautionary and doesn’t expect the issue to impact Thompson’s availability going forward, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday for the first time since leaving the team before the All-Star break, forward Andrew Wiggins declined to discuss the specifics of the personal situation that led to his 22-game absence, but said he expects to be back in action soon, according to Andrews. Based on comments made by Kerr, it sounds like Wiggins may not be available by Friday, but could be back for Golden State’s regular season finale on Sunday. “We’ll have a better idea in the next couple of days,” Kerr said. “There’s no way he’s playing in the next few days, I can tell you that. But I think once we have an assessment over the next couple of days, we’ll have a better idea of when he might be able to play.”
The manner in which the Warriors handled Wiggins’ personal absence and his return reflects well on the franchise, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “This organization, it’s a player-first organization,” guard Gary Payton II said. “They want to make sure we’re mentally and physically ready to come to work and do what we’ve gotta do. Wigs was gone for a period of time for Wigs’ reasons and they didn’t press him or push him to come back and get ready to play. Just what he had to handle and he came back.”

Pacific Notes: KD, Klay, Brooks, Fox, Sabonis, AD

March 20th, 2023 at 6:16pm CST by Rory Maher

Suns forward Kevin Durant has been able to do more on-court work lately, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium said on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back show, adding that he believes there could be an update on the star’s status later this week (Twitter video link).

According to Charania, the Suns are “hopeful” that Durant will return to action before the end of month, or possibly in early April, though he does say the team will be cautious.

Durant has been out since March 8 after sustaining a left ankle sprain during a pregame workout routine. Charania reported the next day that he’d be reevaluated in two weeks, but the Suns said three. Either way, it’s a positive sign that the 34-year-old has been making progress in his recovery.

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks continues to rankle members of the Warriors. He repeatedly shouted “you suck” at the defending champions from the bench in the closing minutes of Saturday’s victory over Golden State, with Klay Thompson responding by counting off four on his fingers, representing his championship rings (Twitter video link via NBC Sports Bay Area). “I don’t care about Dillon Brooks,” Thompson told Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “When he retires, I don’t think anyone will ever talk about Dillon Brooks ever again. I promise you. It’s sweet right now, but wait 10 years.” According to Barnes, Brooks commended the Warriors’ accomplishments, but slipped in a dig as well. “He’s got four rings. That’s all he was saying. It’s motivation to us,” Brooks said. “We want a ring as well. Being able to go through the process of steps that we did last year, we keep going and learning from it all. It’s friendly trash talk, but I just hold a lot of real estate over there in San Francisco.”
Charania recently interviewed Kings All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis (Twitter video link). They covered a number of topics, including head coach Mike Brown, last year’s trade that brought Sabonis to Sacramento, Sabonis’ thumb injury, and their respective All-NBA cases, among others.
Lakers star Anthony Davis is expected to play in both games of the team’s final back-to-back set in early April, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report said on his #thisleague UNCUT podcast with Marc Stein (Twitter link via Fox Sports Radio). According to Haynes, Davis was given the option of either playing last week’s back-to-back at New Orleans (a win with Davis) and at Houston (a loss without him), or the back-to-back set on April 4th and 5th at Utah and at the Clippers. He obviously chose the latter.

Pacific Notes: Baldwin, Thompson, Russell, Okpala

February 26th, 2023 at 5:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Warriors rookie forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. is getting some playing time and coach Steve Kerr sees a bright future for the first round pick, C.J. Holmes of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.

“When I watch Patrick I see a future rotation player,” the Warriors coach said. “He fits. You can see it. He makes shots from the perimeter with ease. He shoots it from such a level of extension that you can barely challenge the shot.”

Baldwin contributed 11 points in 10 minutes for the Warriors against the Lakers on Thursday and 11 more points in 16 minutes against Houston on Friday.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Klay Thompson has four rings and a contract that runs through next season. The Warriors shooting guard says he’s still hungry at this stage of his career, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Thompson became the first player in NBA history to make 12 three-pointers in multiple games in a season while scoring 42 points against Houston. “I did something that no one else has ever done before,” Thompson said. “I looked at (Stephen Curry) immediately when I did it because, I mean, that man’s got all the records, so it’s fun to push the game forward with him. I’m still so hungry to be great. I’ll never be satisfied.”
Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell went through pregame warmups but was ultimately ruled out of the team’s game against Dallas, according to Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register (Twitter links). Acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline, Russell suffered a sprained right ankle against Golden State on Thursday.
The Kings still believe KZ Okpala can be a defensive factor in his NBA career, but chose to waive him after determining that he needed knee surgery, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee reports in a subscriber-only story. Okpala, who appeared in 35 games after signing as a free agent, has been sidelined with bilateral knee soreness and is now expected to undergo season-ending surgery. The team consulted with multiple medical professionals to evaluate Okpala’s injury, Anderson adds.

Pacific Notes: Westbrook, Lakers, Payton, K. Thompson

February 23rd, 2023 at 9:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Russell Westbrook is glad to be in a situation where he feels wanted, but the Clippers only have a short time to figure out his best role with the team, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. L.A. shook up its backcourt with this week’s signing of Westbrook and trade deadline deals for Eric Gordon and Bones Hyland. It hasn’t been determined who will start and what the combinations will look like, and coach Tyronn Lue only has 21 games remaining to get his rotations in place.

“If he’s doing too much or not enough, I’ll let him know,” Lue said of Westbrook. “But we want him to be the player that he is, the MVP, the Hall of Famer, everything he brings every single night. We want him to be that person, that player. And then we’ve just got to make sure that it’s in the confines of our team and what we’re trying to do team-wise.”

Westbrook was stuck in a difficult situation with the Lakers, where he was a poor fit and an easy target for the team’s disappointing performance. A trade to Utah and a buyout with the Jazz gave him a chance to reset his career, and he said at Wednesday’s introductory press conference that he’s happy to be able to stay in L.A. and help the Clippers contend for a title.

“For me, it’s just finding my way to be able to help other guys,” Westbrook said. “It’s something I truly embrace, and that’s what I will do — make sure I can make the game easy for all these guys that are here, find out their spots, what they like, what they don’t like. And that’s going to be a process for me, but I’m ready for the challenge and looking forward to it.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Lakers also remade their roster this month in hopes of making a push for the playoffs. Coach Darvin Ham tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN that three of the team’s newcomers — D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt — will be part of the starting lineup going forward. L.A.’s next seven games are against teams that it’s trailing in the Western Conference playoff race, and Ham knows they’re all important. “If we fall into a play-in situation, so be it,” he said. “But our No. 1 goal is to go secure a (playoff) spot, not just throw games off here or there (and) just wish for a play-in. We want to go secure a spot.”
The Warriors will reevaluate Gary Payton II‘s condition in about a month in hopes that he can be ready for the playoffs, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Golden State opted to go through with a four-team trade even though Payton wasn’t able to pass his physical. “Just have to take it day by day,” Payton said. “When the medical staff and I agree that things are good and it’s safe for me to get back out there and be able to be myself and my body feels like itself, we’ll come up with a decision.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Klay Thompson should be available for back-to-back games for the rest of the season, tweets Madeline Kennedy of The Bay Area News Group.

Injury Notes: Haliburton, Davis, Warriors, K. Porter

January 20th, 2023 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on JJ Redick’s Old Man and The Three podcast, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton provided an update on his recovery from the elbow and knee injuries he sustained earlier this month. The team announced on January 12 that Haliburton would be reevaluated in two weeks, and he’s hoping that he won’t be out much longer than that.

“Starting to get stronger every day, feeling better every day,” he said (hat tip to Tony East of SI.com). “Got my second opinion, so things are going well. Hopefully in the next 11, 12 days, I feel better and can get back to start February. That’s the goal.”

A strong candidate to earn his first All-Star nod, Haliburton had been averaging 20.2 points and 10.2 assists per game for the surprisingly competitive Pacers, with shooting averages of 48.0% from the floor and 39.9% on threes, before he went down.

Indiana had a 23-18 record entering the game in which Haliburton got injured, but lost that night and have dropped four more contests since then to fall to .500 (23-23). While they won’t rush back their star player, the slumping Pacers would certainly be happy if he’s able to make it back sooner rather than later.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

Although Shams Charania has repeatedly stated that Anthony Davis is on track to return in early February, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter video link) suggested in a TV appearance that the Lakers star could be back before then. “If everything continues to go the right way, he will be back playing for the Lakers next week at Crypto.com Arena and be with them for that entire road trip,” McMenamin said. Los Angeles plays home games next Tuesday and Wednesday before embarking on a five-game road trip that begins on January 28.
Stephen Curry (hip tightness), Draymond Green (toe soreness), Andrew Wiggins (foot soreness), Klay Thompson (Achilles injury management), and Andre Iguodala (hip soreness) will all miss Friday’s game in Cleveland, but the Warriors could have reserves Jonathan Kuminga (foot sprain) and JaMychal Green (leg infection) back, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Kuminga, out since December 30, and Green, out since Dec. 18, are both listed as probable.
Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. visited a specialist on Friday to further evaluate the left foot contusion that has caused him to miss the last four games, tweets Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Porter and rookie forward Jabari Smith Jr., who sprained his right ankle on Wednesday, have both already been ruled out for Saturday’s game in Minnesota, notes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).

Warriors Rumors: Wiseman, Moody, Kuminga, J. Green, Lamb, More

January 19th, 2023 at 8:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors‘ approach to this season’s trade deadline might resemble the path they took two years ago, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Back in 2021, Kelly Oubre was considered a potential trade chip as Golden State hovered around .500, but the team hung onto Oubre and only made two small salary-dump deals involving Marquese Chriss and Brad Wanamaker.

According to Slater, this season’s Warriors are a better bet to make moves on the fringe like those ones than to do anything drastic. That’s why former lottery picks James Wiseman, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga are likely to remain in Golden State through the deadline instead of being moved, Slater adds. Those youngsters could be traded in the right deal, but the Warriors won’t want to sell low on Wiseman and Moody, and they view Kuminga as a legitimate playoff rotation piece.

If the Warriors make a small move to dump a contract and open up another roster spot, JaMychal Green would be the most obvious trade candidate, Slater observes.

The team already has one spot open on its 15-man roster, but the expectation is that two-way player Anthony Lamb will eventually be promoted to fill that spot. Opening up a second roster slot would position the Warriors to be players on the buyout market. Unlike last year, they could have both a roster and rotation spot to offer veteran free agents this time around, Slater writes.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Theoretically, big men like Jakob Poeltl or Kelly Olynyk would appeal to the Warriors, but the price will likely be too high for a Golden State team that already has Draymond Green and Kevon Looney in its frontcourt and only really needs an insurance policy, Slater writes. Sources tell The Athletic that the Dubs would be more interested in a “versatile multi-positional wing” to play a role similar to the one Otto Porter Jr. did last season.
Slater names Jalen McDaniels, Darius Bazley, Rui Hachimura, and Obi Toppin as some possible targets the Warriors could kick the tires on, but acknowledges that rival suitors would probably be in position to outbid Golden State on those sorts of players.
While Stephen Curry has been cleared to play in both parts of back-to-back sets going forward, Klay Thompson is still awaiting that same clearance, says Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Thompson sat out on Monday after scoring a team-high 26 points on Sunday, but the expectation is that he’ll be able to play in back-to-backs at some point this season. Assuming he misses either Friday’s game after playing tonight, Thompson’s next opportunity to play in both ends of a back-to-back would be on February 1 and 2.
In a conversation with David Aldridge of The Athletic, Draymond Green says he believes he’ll eventually make the Basketball Hall of Fame. “You won’t go and look at my stats and say, ‘This guy’s a surefire Hall of Famer,'” Green said. “But if you know the game of basketball, and you look at the game of basketball, then I think I have a case.”

Warriors Notes: Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Iguodala, Buyout Market

January 9th, 2023 at 5:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Stephen Curry‘s return could be imminent. Curry participated in Monday’s practice and scrimmages, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, and he’s listed as questionable to play against Phoenix on Tuesday. Curry hasn’t played since Dec. 14 due to a shoulder injury.

Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins were also full participants while Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and JaMychal Green sat out.

Kevon Looney, Draymond Green, Donte DiVincenzo and Jordan Poole did not participate in the scrimmages because they’ve played heavy minutes in recent games (Twitter links here).

We have more on the Warriors:

Wiggins missed 15 games due to an adductor strain and illness. In his return against Orlando on Saturday, he scored 12 points in 19 minutes but shot just 4-for-12 from the field. He told The Athletic’s Anthony Slater that he’ll need some time to regain his best form. “It just felt a little rusty out there just trying to get my feet right, get back in rhythm,” Wiggins said. “But I know it’s going to take a little time.”
Andre Iguodala made his season debut in the same game and also needs to scrape off some rust. He wasn’t much of a factor in 12 minutes. However, Iguodala isn’t a crucial rotation piece like Wiggins, Slater notes in the same piece.
The trade deadline is a month away, followed by the buyout market. The Warriors, who have an open roster spot, need to add another piece, Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic opines. What do they need the most? In Thompson’s estimation, an athletic big would be ideal. They could also pursue a wing capable of stressing defenses off the dribble.

Joe Lacob Talks Payroll, Green, Thompson, Wiseman

January 5th, 2023 at 11:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors team governor Joe Lacob sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, on his show The TK Podcast, and discussed the possibility of an impeding $450MM payroll for next season’s team.

“It’s not possible without losing quite a bit of money at the bottom line, let’s put it that way,” Lacob said of being open to foot the bill for the 2023/24 season. “I can’t really answer the question right now other than to say: When have you ever known me not to be aggressive? We are aggressive. We’ll do whatever we can do if it makes sense and we’re in a winning, real championship mode.”

Though Golden State won the 2022 championship, the team stumbled out of the gate this season. Thanks in part to long-term injuries to stars Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins, the team is currently just the ninth seed in the West with a 20-19 record.

Kawakami and Lacob also discussed the erratic play of 2020 No. 2 draft pick James Wiseman, the futures of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in Golden State, and much more.

The whole interview is well worth a read in full, but here are some other highlights:

On whether the Warriors will actually lose money this season, given their already hefty luxury tax bill for 2022/23:

“It depends how far we go in the playoffs. If we go to the finals, we should be OK. If we don’t, we’ll probably lose money… All I could tell you is we’re just trying to keep up. We have a unique situation in that we have this aging but still great set of players. We have championship aspirations, and it costs a lot of money to do that. And we’re going to try like heck to rectify our finances going forward, but not at the expense of being able to win.”

On if Golden State will retain Green, who has a player option for 2023/24, and Thompson, who will reach free agency in 2024:

“I want to keep those guys here. I want them to be here. As long as they’re playing at a very high level, rest assured they will be here. I would love obviously for some of them to sacrifice (in salary) a little bit, or what they perceive as a sacrifice, to stay and to help our organization maintain a great roster. You always hope for that. It usually doesn’t happen. And I can’t blame them because they have limited life spans as players and they want to make as much money as they can.

“… Draymond and Klay, first of all, they’re both under contract for next year, so let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here… In Draymond’s case, he gets to decide, he has the power. He gets to opt in or opt out, do what he wants. I’d love for him to stay.”

On how the team is weighing Wiseman’s development against the win-now needs of the roster:

“There’s always a timetable in sports, whether we like it or not… But he’s 21 years old. You have to put this in perspective. And he’s an immense talent, he’s an incredibly hard worker, he really cares. These things matter. He had a lot of really bad breaks as we all know, it’s been well chronicled… He’s also in an organization and on a team which is trying to win championships. It’s different than playing somewhere they’re just throwing everybody out there, young guys are putting up numbers, getting a lot of experience. It’s hard for our young guys to do that here.”