Takeaways from Warriors' Play-In Loss to Suns: Dubs Need Bold Move from Lacob

The Golden State Warriors' season ended with a 111-96 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday at Mortgage Matchup Center.

Stephen Curry struggled with just 17 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

Meanwhile, Jalen Green played one of the best games of his career with 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting and 8-of-14 from three.

Here are two takeaways from Friday's game.

Warriors Need Bold Move from Lacob, Dunleavy

Team governor Joe Lacob is very involved in the Warriors' trade, draft and free-agency decisions. That much is clear.

I don't know if and when it's more Lacob's call than general manager Mike Dunleavy's call to make or not make a move, so I'll address both of them here.

The Warriors need a bold offseason move.

Giannis Antetokounmpo isn't coming. LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard probably aren't either, though they are at least possibilities.

Instead, what the Warriors need is a front office willing to bet multiple first-round picks on a player they think can change this team.

It probably won't be the type of obvious upgrade Giannis would be.

It will be something like the Celtics trading a first-round pick and a first-round pick swap for Derrick White back in 2022.

At the time, some said it was an overpay, but the Celtics believed in White, and he's since become an indispensable piece to a team that has won a championship.

Even with Jimmy Butler healthy, this roster is at least one Derrick White away from true title contention.

If the Warriors are not going to trade any of their draft picks, they are basically guaranteeing Curry will never be on a team that can win multiple playoff series again.

Somehow, at 38 years old he's still one of the best players in the league. It would be a shame to let the last couple of seasons of his career be wasted.

Porzingis' FA Gets More Complicated

Kristaps Porzingis was questionable coming into the game with ankle soreness, but he gave it a go, playing 15 minutes.

He basically couldn't move at all defensively, and the Suns took advantage over and over.

By the time Porzingis was benched for good early in the third quarter, he was a minus-22.

I'm sure the Warriors appreciate that Porzingis played at all, and I want to make it clear that this game is not the sole reason for this section of the article.

The issue is Porzingis is just totally unreliable and has been going back to the 2024 playoffs. The combination of injuries and illnesses make him unlikely to play in every game of a future playoff series. This year, he couldn't make it through two play-in games.

The Warriors don't have the cap flexibility to replace him, so they will probably attempt to re-sign him. But the reality of his unavailability should be used against him in negotiations.

His AAV range feels like it could be $6 million or $24 million. It'll probably land somewhere in between, and if the Warriors can get him on the lower end, that could open up the possibility of using the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which could result in the Warriors getting a major rotation piece.

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