The LeBron-Less Warriors Are Out of Moves

Steph Curry in Golden State, uh, the Warriors, another team that misses out on LeBron James.

Steph did an interview with Marcus Thompson over at the Athletic, kind of was, said all the right things there, said he didn't get his hopes up too much because, hey, things like this can ultimately happen.

But as we spin this thing forward and look at the Warriors, the Warriors who were the last couple of years been kind of a middle of the pack type of team clawing their way.

Into the postseason when they get there.

Steph Curry now entering the final year of his current contract, making $62.

5 million in the last year of his deal.

Jimmy Butler also in the last year of his deal , Draymond Green, we'll see what kind of deal he gets.

Um, now that he's able to re up with Golden State.

This Warrior team, especially with Butler gone for at least most of the first half of the season, if not longer, um, They just look like another year where you're kind of clawing through the play in the Western Conference to get into the playoffs.

Maybe worse because those bottom tier teams that were sitting there, the Utah's, the Portland's from last year, uh, New Orleans, even, like they're all trying to win and they're all gonna get better.

There's no incentive for anybody to lose anymore, especially with that relegation stuff, uh, in the back half of the lottery, um.

Does this, Steph is still great.

Still all NBA great, elite guy, um, but this team does not look like it's capable of putting a championship team around him.

Do you think there's any chance, or I guess give me a percentage chance you would say that Steph Curry finishes his career in another uniform.

I just hate that we have to have, I, I, I, this bums me out so much about team owners and management.

I can't give you a percentage because it's just.

Like a, a even more pointed version of this happened in LeBron's final year or two in Cleveland, right?

So Kyrie Irving demands a trade, kind of breaks up what had been looking like a real rival to the Warriors .

You know, they won 2016 a little bit with, you know, duct tape and magic and the Draymond suspension, but they were going to come back the next year and, you know, all the things and LeBron at the height of his powers and Steph at the height of his powers and all.

The things Kyrie demands a trade, obviously throws a spanner in the works.

He gets traded.

They get this pick from the, the Boston that's the Nets' pick.

Remember the Nets pick.

The Nets pick's gonna be so good.

Everyone loves that Nets pick.

Those Brooklyn Nets stink, and, and the Nets pick is gonna be a 123.

It's gonna be the Nets pick, the Nets pick.

First of all, it wasn't because the lottery exists, but also Dan Gilbert said.

Out loud, he said a verb, I'm paraphrasing, but he did say it to be quoted, we're not going to be left in the same position we were the last time LeBron left.

We are going to make sure that we keep our assets so that if he walks out and leaves again, we still have like assets and a team.

We're not mortgaging the future for LeBron James, and I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard because when you have LeBron James.

In Cleveland, when you have Giannis Antetokopo or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Milwaukee, when you have Steph Curry in Golden State, which let's not forget before Steph Curry got there, you know how many years Golden State save one we believe Warriors, we won in the first round team was like the laughingstock of the NBA for years and years and years.

You don't get these guys.

These are generational or sometimes beyond generational, once in a lifetime in a lifetime players, and you do everything.

You mortgage everything.

If he had traded that Nets pick for some help for LeBron, so he's not looking at JR Smith with his hands in the air being like, what the heck were you doing at the end of game one of that 2018 series?

They could have won another title .

What if Cleveland had two NBA titles instead of one?

Kind of goes to the beginning of this podcast.

When we were saying at some point you can't buy this stuff, you can't buy it, can't buy NBA titles.

It's lightning in a bottle.

You have to have the right guy at the right time with the right health, with the right matchups with everything.

And if you are riding the wave where you have Steph Curry, you spend every dollar, you spend every draft pick, you mortgage every future because guess what?

The 3 or 4 years after Steph retires, if you were at the bottom of the barrel because you were handicapped by not having picks and not having this and not having that, can't be any worse.

Than right now when you're not winning anything, but you have Steph.

Now it's even to me that's even more heartbreaking.

If I'm a Golden State fan, I want them to blow the wallet out.

Do everything you can to get Steph all the help you can while you have Steph Curry.

I just watched him win an Olympics two years ago.

I watched him.

I was in the arena.

They would not have won that gold medal if not for him.

He was the reason LeBron James is on that team.

Nope.

All the other people on that team, nope.

It was Steph Curry.

That won them that Olympic gold medal twice in the in the bronze medal, you know, to get to the semifinals and then to win the finals.

He can still do that for you.

He might not be the number one only Steph engine, but if you put enough talent around him, he can absolutely do that.

If I am a Golden State fan, I am absolutely wanting them to empty the future wallet, spend every future pick you have, trade for anyone you can , spend all the money you can go into all the aprons.

Joe Lacob has all the money.

That thing is a cash register, that building.

Do it.

And then if they're bad for 3 or 4 years after he retires, so what?

If you're a fan, I cannot imagine you would sit there and say, man, can't believe we got more out of Steph Curry.

Now I got to spend 2 years watching this direct.

No, you'd be like, oh, here's our plucky little team, exactly what you were just advocating for in Milwaukee and Miami and all the things.

Here's our plucky little team of young players who are trying their best because we don't have any of our draft.

Picks and don't control anything for the next few years.

But man, that 7th title was pretty fun, wasn't it?

Like I, I just, I don't get it.

Obviously the Cleveland example with LeBron, he was in his early 30s.

Steph now is in his late 30s, but they could have been doing that these last few years, and I don't understand.

I think it is criminal.

I just think it is.

And I don't think we're at the point where that's even.

Remote consideration because there's still is no Joe Lacob said a version of it recently.

I don't have the quote in front of me, but there was some version of preparing for the next era, right?

Yes, yes, and that's, well, I mean, and that's been part of the Lacob mindset dating back to the two-track kind of thing they were trying to do with Kamenga and with Moses Moody there.

So that's always been in their mind.

I, I do think that.

Even though the odds are against this version of the team developing into a championship contender, there still is a chance because they still have some flexibility and some assets.

You still have the Jimmy Butler contract, right, right, which I think, well, they were on Giannis, like they were on Giannis.

Like they're willing to do a deal to get.

Giannis, they're gonna give up 4 first-round draft picks.

Like that was a few months ago.

They're willing to do that before the trade deadline.

So I think there still is that mindset within the front office to do the right deal.

Now, who that player might be that's available, I don't, I don't, yes, it would have to be before this trade deadline because you have to use the Jimmy Butler contract.

You have to use it like.

I, I don't think you can count on Butler coming back and being anything close to what he was in year one.

I, I don't see that happening.

And it's not also like you need a younger guy.

You need a guy who compliments Steph on the court.

I can give you one that, sure, go for it.

Let's just bring Durant back to Golden State.

Let's just bring them back.

Like Houston, they're good, but like whatever.

Like if Houston's not going to win next year, if they're not in a position to win, like Jimmy Butler for Kevin Durant, maybe throw a draft pick in there to sweeten the pot for Houston.

Like, I, I get Kevin doesn't really want to do it.

He's been pretty vocal about that in the past, but I think if there is a player that looks to be available right now, as you look up and down the, the standings there, a guy that might be available that you could get for Jimmy Butler at a draft pick.

Kevin Durant is that guy.

Kevin Durant has proven that he can win opposite Steph Curry.

There's a relationship there.

They're not the same guys they were in 2017.

I get that.

But if you're looking to create some opportunity here, create a window.

I think getting Kevin Durant back would be the way to do it.

Well, look, Kevin's an adult.

He gets to decide where he wants to play.

That's the privilege he's earned at this point.

And if he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to.

The irony of that projected situation is, I actually think that it would give some reputation, um.

Uh, I'm thinking of the wrong word.

It's, it's, uh, you know, it, it would do some healing, I guess reputation is the wrong word, but it's just it would do some healing because the truth is if he came back now, there would be no question that the and they won or they, they did really well, then there wouldn't be any question that they needed Kevin to do really well.

I would argue they needed Kevin to win when they won in 2017 and 2018 anyway.

Um, I know there are people who don't feel that, but they should have.

They watched that finals.

I, I completely agree.

I voted for him for Finals MVP, which people in Golden State still have a problem with, but I'm telling you he is the reason that they were able to win the way that they did, um, but there are fans who obviously don't think so, right?

Fans who say that isn't a real ring, that he was ring chasing, all this stuff.

If he goes back now, nobody can say that because they certainly haven't been winning anything without him recently in the last few years.

That being said, if it's not the Kevin Durant situation because Kevin Durant doesn't want to go there, which I respect, who else could you put there?

I'm going down the list of guys that make in that 50+ million per year range.

Anthony Davis is on that list.

We'll see what happens with AD ideal considering the health stuff.

I want someone who's like a home run.

I don't think there is a home run out there.

I think everything's gonna come with some risk there, but AD, if you can get him, I don't know what Washington's gonna do with his extension.

They've done some things I haven't necessarily agreed with.

Sorry, uh, but, but, but he's on that list, um, going down.

Devin Booker, would Phoenix ever deal him?

Probably not.

That would be great though, wouldn't it?

How fun would that be?

It would be really great for them.

Um, the Kawhi situation, we'll see how that plays out.

That's been discussed before.

If somehow that doesn't come together with Toronto, but Kawhi is in that category of older again, I don't think there's a home run though.

I don't.

I think this Devin Booker feels pretty good to me.

Devin Booker, but Phoenix was better than expected last year.

I don't think this is the year they, I know, and he wants to be Kobe.

I get it, like, but De'Aaron Fox, no.

Like Evan Mobley, I don't think they wouldn't do that for Jim.

That, that doesn't make any sense.

Now, there's, there's not a lot.

What do you think about whether they should have gone, done the Jalen Brown deal?

Um, I would have.

I would have, I would have, um, especially when you see what the cost ultimately was, a couple of first round picks and a matching contract, and by the way, you could have ended up with LeBron James apparently.

Yeah, yeah.

How do you think Brad Stevens feels today?

I'm actually asking, I'm curious for, I'm curious, Mr.

Boston.

I'm curious for your opinion.

I mean, look, I think the Celtics are gonna do this deal one way or the other.

I think the Philly, no, um, they were gonna do a Jalen Brown deal no matter what.

Um, I was, are you referring to like LeBron going there as a result of it?

I'm not sure if no matter, no matter what else was out there, I don't know if dealing him not just within the conference but within the division if we still even talk about that but like literally down the road um and it.

You're going to face this team 4 to 5 times a year.

You're gonna face them in the playoffs.

That's not a deal I would have done if I had a guy where trading him away was controversial to begin with.

This is a guy who's your finals MVP not that long ago, who's a cornerstone, literal cornerstone of your franchise, and you're dealing him for reasons that are not entirely clear.

I would not have done it nearby.

I just wouldn't have done that.

And to have it backfire in this way where you have now drawn LeBron James into the equation.

Rich Paul has come out and said that the Jalen Brown deal was part of the reason that suddenly made Philadelphia more attractive.

They're a contending team because of Jalen because of Jalen Brown.

I, I just, I don't know, putting that down I-95 from you seems like a mistake.

I fundamentally think it's a mistake too.

I would not have done the deal.

I think the regret right now within Boston is probably that they didn't just take a step back.

Like if you wanted to do this deal in August, you still could have done this deal.

And then maybe LeBron James is not playing for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Maybe he decides that that team with an aging MB, Maxi was good, but Paul George is not.

I can't imagine him doing that either.

So they kind of helped create that super team down.

In Philadelphia they can't be feeling good about that.

I'm going down the list of these rich, these guys that make a ton of money like Zach Levine.

You could sure have , but that doesn't make any sense.

Yam would love to get him, but I don't think Indiana next year.

Indiana is trying to win next year.

Um, it's a bonus you could have, but that doesn't move the needle.

Here's the thing.

Durant's the guy.

If Like you offer enough, you get people, and sometimes you have to overpay because there's more, what, what I always say, it's just like a real estate, right?

You only need one buyer, right?

Maybe someone's more valuable to that one.

Team than they are to anyone else and that's what the quote overpay is.

That was the Walker Kessler situation, right?

More valuable to the Lakers than anyone else because it ensured Luca's happiness.

And so therefore it was a worthwhile deal for them even though it would have been an overpay for anyone else.

If it's gonna get Steph to another NBA Finals, I don't care how much you're overpaying.

It is worth it.

So I just think that is the lens you need to look at these deals from when you have Steph Curry on your roster, as opposed to what makes good practical sense right now.

And if it's not this year, it'll be next year, gosh darn it, because you don't have next year and next year and next year and next year with Steph.

We're on the same page.

We're on the same page with this.

I, I do think where we deviate is if they have the same kind of year next year, they give Steph Curry a two-year extension.

Um, at that point, I would be thinking about my long-term future.

I don't think they're at the point yet where it's all hope is lost.

Like, I, I had thought with Giannis all hope was lost.

Like I believe that that's why they had to do the deal.

You're not in the same position with Steph Curry.

All hope is not lost right now in Golden State.

The door may be mostly closed, but there's a little, a sliver of light where you would want to trade him next year, yeah.

39 years old, if you can get real stuff for him back in return, otherwise the alternative, the alternative is like, is Dirk Nowitzki.

But unless he wants to go, you're never gonna recover, yeah, because, well, they're gonna have to do a deal with him anyway.

He's gonna get a no trade clause most likely in his next deal.

So it's, it's gonna be a moot point.

But I would have that conversation next offseason.

And if you're Steph, do you want to do that?

Because here's the thing, I can't put myself in his shoes.

Like what matters to him, you know, I think if this was, look, if ownership wasn't going to put all the chips down for him and say we will mortgage the future for him and ownership is going to say more of what we have heard recently, I would have had that conversation with him a year ago, and I would have said, Hey, Steph, you're 37, you're 36.5, whatever you are, you've got this 3 or 4 year chunk left.

Like we're not gonna, we're not gonna put down all the chips for you.

We're not gonna do it.

We, we have just decided as a franchise we want more continuity.

We're not willing to go through a desert for 3 years after you retire.

We're not going to mortgage the whole future for you.

Do you want to be the guy who played his whole team in, in one place?

Whole career in one place.

Do you want to be Dirk Kobe, etc.

and there's real value to that for some players, and that's great and we both are going into this next 3 or 4 years with our eyes open , or would you like to go somewhere else and try to win another title?

And I would have been man enough to have that conversation with him and if he wanted to go somewhere else then that would have been something he had agency over and it wouldn't have felt like some like 1 year kind of lame tack on going to him at 39 and saying, hey man, if you want to go somewhere else you can.

It's just such a, it's such a coward's way out to me of I get, OK, fine, Steph, if you want to like not have the bookend of having your whole career be with one team and possibly have what the Hakeem on the Raptors type situation or whatever I've heard that name brought up a lot but that's what temp like potentially that's what you have to weigh if you are a guy who spent your whole career with one team.

And you are then at your age 39 being told, well, if you want to spend one year somewhere else to quote maybe when you can, that's a ledge you probably don't want to jump off of because it's just too uncertain.

No, and you wouldn't.

And so like what are you really offering him?

You're not actually offering him anyone.

That's why it's I think you let Steph write his own ticket.

Like if Steph wants the two-year extension you're not actually doing it.

You're saying you're doing it.

You're like, oh, we're letting Steph decide if he wants to be.

No, no, no you can't contractually like Steph, what kind of contract do you want?

We'll pay a full max, whatever you want.

You are worth every nickel to us.

We will, we will go all out, by the way.

We will go all out can't cheap out on him.

No, we will go all out to make this team as.

as it possibly can be, but it's just at some point maybe there has to be a conversation between the two about, hey, what do we really want?

Because Steph, like Dirk at the end, Dirk at the end was like decomposing at the end of the, the Mavericks bench.

He was not a high-level player.

Same thing with Kobe.

Kobe wasn't quite there, but he was probably half of what he was at his very best at the end.

This was post, post- Achilles injury, all that stuff.

Steph is still a top, what, 6 guard in the NBA.

Like he's.

Outstanding.

Like you put Steph on the trade block, everybody's coming for him.

If you can get Steph Curry for 3 years, which you probably can, I mean this guy doesn't look like he's slowing down one bit.

Like he's probably gonna be playing like this in his early.

Maybe they have that conversation now.

I don't know.

Maybe now that, I just think now there's, there's still, there's still room here.

Like I still see a way, but they have to agree to do it because if I am Steph Curry and I know he's the nicest human alive, but like I.

would put pressure on that front office and say, hey guys, like what are we doing here?

Seems like him and Draymond do the opposite.

Like, at least the public statements are like, you know what, don't blow up the team for us.

We got our 4 championships.

We're good.

Don't, you know, think about the future.

So I don't know if I'm a fan.

I want that team blown up for them because you are not.

I, I don't care who you draft.

I don't care who you draft in the next 3 years.

None of them will be Steph Curry .

I'm willing to stake it right here.