It's Time for the Warriors To Have a Steph Curry Conversation

Let's keep it in the Western Conference because I want to talk a little bit about the Warriors who are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.

You know, before the injury to Jimmy Butler, this team was on fire.

They had won 12 out of their last 16 games.

They had an elite offense during that stretch.

The defense had been upper half of the league during that stretch.

They looked like the team we saw late last year when Butler came on board, pushed them into the playoffs, and really they were, Kind of a Steph Curry injury from probably going to the Western Conference Finals.

So, you know, they, they looked like they were getting back to that.

All of a sudden, Jimmy Butler goes down, ACL tear, out for the season.

Jonathan Kamena, two games later, he goes down with a knee injury.

Uh, the Warriors are 1 and 3 since that injury to, uh, Jimmy Butler.

They won 1 game in, uh, Minnesota.

They rested all their guys on Monday night.

Um , so just chalk that game up to that.

Uh, but they've, they've, they're in a predicament right now, man.

Like, I, I know that Mike Dunleavy, the general manager in Golden State and his staff are canvassing the market.

We'll get into some of what they're trying to do, but I, I don't know what they do here.

Steph Curry is playing at an MVP level, uh, but he doesn't have enough help.

Uh, what do you think of the position the Warriors are in right now?

For one, let me give some empathy to Mike Dunleavy, man, because shout out to Bob Myers for being smarter for seeing it, but he just threw that gun in Mike's lap, and Mike is gonna be the oldest 45 year old in the world pretty soon, but, um.

To be completely honest with you, I, I'm kinda I understand like dynasties die hard, you know what I mean?

And I think there's certain times to get out and I, I just, I don't.

I don't know where Steph will want to get traded to if he were to leave and try to like save his.

Save his career.

I, I, I, I think there's, I think there was a time for them to make a change around 2021, 2022.

And I feel when you, uh, The way things have been going, I feel like you kind of, you kind of made your bed.

You know what I mean?

I, I, I, I don't, I, I just don't, I wanna see stuff with Brian or something like that.

I just don't see in a world where Somebody trading in and help him get another great piece or vice versa.

I, I, I personally, I just, I just think he's stuck there and I, I would love to see him elsewhere , but it's That that they, they, they recycled that Warriors situation 150 million times and the priority was never ever what was best with Steph.

The priority was what was best with the legacy over time.

Or like, hey, you, you can't trade this guy, it's gonna be a statue here.

You can't, you know what I mean?

Even like the, I love Podzinski, but even a premature situation of letting Clay Walker's benching Clay for Podzinski was like OD, you know what I'm saying?

I, I just think there was so much that went on where it's like.

You're gonna remember that.

That's devastating.

You're gonna remember this.

This is devastating.

You're gonna, you know what I mean?

And I I think, I think one of the decisions that they made, um, that you look back on as a mistake was a couple of years ago when they had an opportunity to trade for Lowry Markin and, and didn't do it.

They thought the price was too high back then.

That was back when, when Brandon Pajiminski was looking like kind of a rising star.

He's kind of plateaued since then, um, but at that time they were reluctant to.

Throw pods into a deal, uh, for Larry Martin.

Larry Marketing would look unbelievable right now on, on that team.

Floor spacing big who fits into literally any offense that you can put together.

He's, he's shown that in his, uh, time in the league.

I, I look, from what I understand, like right now.

The, the Warriors are actively trying to get help, right?

Like they've, you know, look, they, they've made it clear to Milwaukee that if the Bucks are looking to deal Giannis, that a package headlined by Jimmy Butler's contract , Jonathan Kamena, and whatever draft picks really is necessary.

They would be willing to do.

I don't think the Bucks are interested in that package.

I think they believe they can do better, but that's something I think is on the table.

I think the Warriors, I know the Warriors have also checked in on Michael Porter Junior.

Right now, the, the asking price in Brooklyn for Porter Junior is still pretty high.

I think the Nets are looking for multiple first-round picks in exchange for MPJ.

Uh, that might come down though.

We, we know that when you get close to the deadline that these prices, they tend to come down.

Yeah, one time somebody asked for two first round picks for me.

I was just like, why would you do some shit like that?

But, but anyway, like how do you think it went, even when they told me I was like, oh no, that's not worth it.

Like, yeah, I, I, I just, I don't look, I don't think they're .

Really in play for Giannis.

I, I don't believe that Michael Porter Jr moves the needle enough to get them into the mix they want to be in.

And look, I, I think, you know, I know Mike Dunleavy said that they're gonna look ahead to next year and, and look at Jimmy Butler as a guy that can come back midseason, but you know, these types of injuries, man.

Like Jimmy Butler's gonna be 36, I think, in September.

Yeah, this is a transit.

Like even we're, it's a changing of a guard on top of, like I said, like.

The people you're looking for are still marinating.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like it might be a 22 year old kid that's probably 2 months off or one, like, you know what I mean?

Like there's nobody really out there to make this make sense unless it's Giannis.

Unless you're like, hey, you know what, we'll rent you for 18 months and we just want to put you with our superstar and, and call it a day.

This is our best bet, but you're basically going at that.

Like there's, there's nothing out there.

You, you missed the boat.

Like there need to be a Danny Ainge in that situation.

That, you know, can foresee and blow up spots and trade off even, you know, to keep the team in championship caliber.

What occurred in 2022 was just Chef, Steph Curry was touched twice.

You know what I mean?

Like it's We keep, we, we, we keep talking about the, the homecoming queen that, that put on freshman 15, you know what I mean?

Like it's, it's, it's, do you understand what I'm saying?

Like it's, it's cute now, but I, I want to give hands and like credit to how well they kept it afloat even though like their parts have been old and rugged.

Like they even makeshift to something when they brought Jimmy Butler in.

That, that wasn't a Nobody's ever thought about having Jimmy and and Steph Curry together.

That was just pulled out their butt and, and, and it's tough, you just missed the boat and, and you're blessed when, unfortunately, you're blessed when Steph Curry went down for a year, got a #2 pick.

You know what I mean?

Like you had chances at a, as a dynasty to rebuild, reload and go that way and you Come on, my man, and Laurie Marining over Paczinski, and then you let Poczinski start in front of Clay, my guy, like.

You get what you deserve.

Yeah, I, um.

I, I, I, I, you can't count on Butler.

Look, Kyrie Irving just had the same injury, and he had it a little bit later than Butler did.

I think it was what, March of this past year, but we're almost into February and Kyrie's not back.

So you're looking at, yeah, you're looking at, it's a 9 to 12 month recovery for this type of injury, and when guys come back from this injury, they're generally not what they.

Originally were.

Like they, it takes them time to, to fully get back.

Look at Jamal Murray when he came back from that same type of injury.

It took him, you know, half a season to get his legs back under him.

You can't count on a 36-year-old Jimmy Butler to be, you know, the savior for you next year.

And look, I, it, it's gonna, to me, and I wrote a little bit about this today, like it's, There's gonna have to be, I think, a conversation with Steph Curry.

Now, like, even, and I talked to a lot of executives during this build up to the trade deadline, and even the executives that would like sell their soul to get Steph Curry on their roster, don't believe that he's gonna be available.

They don't.

They like, they look at Steph.

And I quoted one in my story today as being like a Dirk or a Kobe, like one team, whole career, grind it till the wheels come off.

You know, be the guy that helps the next generation, which Dirk did.

I don't know if Kobe really did that, but Dirk, Dirk did that towards the end of, uh , his career with Luca in, uh, in Dallas.

That's how they view Steph Curry.

But Dirk Nowitzki at the end was just hanging on.

Kobe Bryant at the end, still putting up numbers, but just hanging on.

It wasn't the same player.

Steph Curry is still a top 10 player in the NBA.

Steph Curry is the best pure shooter in the NBA.

When that NBA GM survey came out last fall, 47% of voters, by far the most, said that they would take Steph Curry, take the last shot in the game.

So he is still at the elitist of the elite level.

And you say, you know, you're talking about how like the, The ship's kind of sailed.

I don't know that it has.

I think if you put Steph Curry on the open market, he would fetch the kind of price that would, you know, give them a huge rebuilding package.

So I think that's, that's what I'm saying is that's still available to them if they want to go that route.

No, I feel, I just would never ever.

I'm like the most GMs.

Like I wouldn't even call for Steph.

Like that's just in my young make-believe world and it's like, oh.

She, he's available.

Cool.

I just thought you're talking about the others.

Like, I like Seth, you're talking about Steph Curry.

Yeah, I, yeah, I thought you were talking about like, like, no, Steph is going to be here.

What do we do now?

He would garner a lot.

You're, you're absolutely right.

It's just, man, I don't, I don't wanna be there to push that button.

No, but like I, I just, I, what I'm saying is like , you gotta have a conversation with Steph where, and, and I'm sure it'll happen.

Like they, they've, like, you know, Steve Kerr is in the final year of his contract.

Uh, the ringer reported this past week that several of Steve Kerr's assistants believe that he's out the door.

That, that wouldn't surprise.

So if you're saying Steve Kerr is gone, Clay is already gone.

Who knows what happens to Draymond who's entering the last year of his contract next season.

Like, you gotta talk to Steph and be like, Steph, this is who we are.

We're going to try.

We're going to try to keep building around you and keep trying to put a winner around you, but it's really, really hard to do that at this stage.

They have prioritized having clean books in the summer of 2027.

Like, at this point, like, no.

Nobody's under contract for that team in 2027.

So they're gonna have some flexibility there.

But , you know, at that point, Steph will be, you know, entering his year 40 season.

He would turn 40 in March of that 27, 2028 season.

And I don't know what he's gonna have left at that point.

So if you're, if you're serious about You know, doing something radical with this team.

This summer is when you have that conversation.

If Steve Kerr decides to walk, that's when I think you sit down with Steph and say, Steph, if you, if you want to be here, we want you here.

Like you sell a million tickets, you're the face of the franchise.

We want you to be here for 2 decades, retire as a warrior.

But if you're looking for something more than just competing for a playoff spot, we might need to start talking about doing a deal somewhere else.

And I'm, and, and I think that's the best, I think that's the best situation.

I'm in agreement with you.

That's the best situation, and most importantly for the sake of just the game of basketball, the game's different when Steph's not in the playoffs, you know what I mean.

The game's different when Steph's not playing, and, uh, like you say, he's still a top 10 player.

He's still elite, and you can still get so many pieces to him and for him, so.

You almost got into this point where you have no choice but to talk to your top dog and be like, hey, you gotta leave your kingdom.

We kinda Ruin this.

Like, you know what I mean?

I think you leave it up to him.

You leave it up to him.

And look , they have, they've made some big mistakes.

I mean, drafting James Wiseman over LaMelo was a huge mistake.

Um, some of the like Kainga, Moses Moody, those were two lottery picks.

Neither one of them has worked out.

Uh, if, if they had drafted better over those years, they'd probably be in a different position right now.

But here's where they are, and I think they've got to have that talk with, uh, with Steph Curry.