No need to wait for documentaries and years of context to fix this: Saturday night’s events will go down as the threshold moment of a threshold offseason at a threshold point in a pretty significant part of Golden State Warriors history.
Preliminary Analysis: Not so good so far! (But check back in a week or so for a final judgment.)
Klay Thompson is set to become a free agent and – barring a dramatic mood swing – the Warriors and Thompson are more than prepared for his fairly imminent departure from the Bay Area. Thus prepared, an NBA source indicated this weekend, that cordial farewells were shared between Klay and high-ranking members of the Warriors organization.
And Paul George, the Warriors’ target for acquisition this offseason, had the final year of his contract with the LA Clippers erased and became an unrestricted free agent, which basically cut off any realistic path for the Warriors because they don’t have the cap room to sign him as a free agent.
It came after very serious negotiations between the Warriors, George and the Clippers leading up to Saturday afternoon’s deadline for George’s contract decision and after the Warriors believed — on multiple occasions — they were close to signing the 34-year-old small forward, team sources said.
The Warriors had agreed to give George a four-year max extension when he arrived. They thought they had proposed several variations of a trade that the Clippers could and would accept. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were 100 percent on board. George gave strong indications that he wanted to join the Warriors. But the Clippers never agreed to any version of a trade, and now George is a free agent and essentially out of reach of the Warriors.
There’s a lot to say, all before free agency begins on Sunday. And the current tally is that the Warriors are on the verge of losing one of their three dynastic players and one of the most popular athletes in Bay Area history, they did not acquire the big two-way wing they were looking for, they dangled Andrew Wiggins among others in trade talks, and now they must decide whether to guarantee Chris Paul’s $30 million contract for next season and determine if they can sell as part of an exchange.
No net gain. A fundamental loss. There is so much left to do. And all that’s at stake is the final leg of Curry’s prime.
The Warriors don’t have the cap space to sign Paul George, seen here with Luka Doncic, as a free agent. (Jérôme Miron / USA Today)
Let’s take a point-by-point look at what happened in recent days and how it shapes what the Warriors will try to do next:
• Any PG13 trade between the Warriors and Clippers was already complicated, but Warriors executives thought they had solved the problem. From what I’ve heard, some combination (but certainly not all) of Wiggins, CP3, Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody plus a future first-round pick have been in discussions with the Clippers.
There were versions that would have limited the Clippers’ long-term financial liability; there were versions that would have increased future profits. I was told the Warriors probably wouldn’t have put Wiggins and Kuminga together in an offer, but also that it never got that far anyway. If that’s what would have sealed the deal… who knows.
From what I understand, money issues have been a big factor for the Clippers. If PG13 leaves as a free agent, they get nothing back… but they also get out of the second apron and have more maneuverability in the roster.
• If the Warriors had put Kuminga in a package for George, that would have been a risk in itself. The Warriors would have given up their most valuable young player for an older player who had struggled with injuries and would have owed more than $260 million over the next five years, which would have essentially locked the Warriors into the luxury tax.
But PG13 would have been an immediate, elite 1B scoring option next to Curry, far better than anyone the Warriors have had in that role in years, and he could have drawn most of the toughest perimeter defensive assignments. Who will take the Warriors’ spot now? Maybe Kuminga will get some of it. Maybe Moody. Maybe Brandin Podziemski, too. This is all a work in progress. The Boston Celtics proved once again that the playoffs are won by tough, two-way wings, and the Warriors are still pretty needy in that category. That’s why they went to such great lengths for George.
• There will be time for many full reflections on Thompson’s incredible legacy with the Warriors later, and he deserves every single one. Game 6 in Oklahoma City alone probably deserves a hundred of them. Coming back to shoot free throws — and limping on defense! — after tearing his ACL in the 2019 Finals should earn him a thousand more commemorations.
I’ll just note that, in retrospect, many of his actions and emotions in the final months of last season were likely signals that he was preparing to move on, from his repeated snappy press conference moments to his struggles to adjusting to his reduced his importance on the field until that final evening after the final regular season game at Chase Center, when he wandered into the locker room to ask his teammates to come ride on his boat with him.
CP3 and Moody accepted it, partly because it’s obviously an honor to get on that boat with Thompson, but also, I thought, because they knew it was important to him that night.
• Thompson didn’t like his experience last season and said so. Multiple times. He didn’t like being moved to the bench for a few games behind Podziemski. He didn’t like the questions we asked him about his future. He didn’t like the national attention on his occasional struggles, including, of course, his 0-for-10 shooting in the play-in loss to the Sacramento Kings. Really I didn’t like that the Warriors placed a higher priority on finding a roster upgrade than on his return this offseason.
For the most part, I think Thompson resented being compared to himself from another era, before his two major leg injuries, when he could guard anyone and turn any game into a personal piece of NBA shooting history. He wanted a fresh start. He’s going to have one. He’s also going to come to Chase Center with his new team and wants to beat the Warriors; maybe not bitterly, maybe a little bitterly, but it will be fun to watch.
• Thompson probably wouldn’t have started if he had stayed with the Warriors this season. It would have been Podziemski. Or Moody. Or someone else. I’m not sure Thompson wanted to go through that again, and I suspect the Warriors wouldn’t have liked it either. It seems like a cold conclusion to an incredible period, but it was inevitable.
The Warriors won’t be better off without Thompson. They’ll miss his shooting, his personality, his wry humor. He’ll have a statue outside the arena. He’ll still be warmly welcomed wherever there are Warriors fans. Yes, the Warriors will miss him. But they’ll get something in a sign-and-trade, courtesy of Thompson, when he leaves, and maybe they won’t be much worse off for it. They’ll be younger and probably more athletic.
And we’ll see what else they can add in the next week.
• The Warriors can use the CP3 contract as a version of a trade exception — they can negotiate with Paul to set the guarantee at any amount acceptable to both sides and use it to balance a trade, if a good one is available.
If the Warriors can’t work out a trade, they can release CP3, get under the aprons and luxury tax and maybe even under the cap line (depending on what kind of money they get back in a potential Thompson sign-and-trade). They can see what else they can get for Wiggins. As it stands, they’ll benefit from the $5.2 million taxpayer mid-level exception and could get into the $12.9 million non-taxpayer mid-level if they move Wiggins and get significantly less money in return.
• I’ll use another Thompson quote from that end-of-season press conference to close. Thompson was asked his reaction to Curry, Draymond and Steve Kerr all saying how much they wanted him back. Again, Thompson said those words in April, but they seem especially apt right now.
“It means a lot,” Thompson said. “I mean, we’ve been through ups and downs. Whether it’s losing a championship, winning a championship, missing the playoffs, we’ve been through it all together, so it means a lot. It makes me grateful for the times I had with them. It was something quite historic.
Yes it was. Past now.
(Top photo of Klay Thompson: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)