There was a time when it looked like Golden State’s offseason gambles would pay off — before Thanksgiving, when the Warriors started 12-3 and people thought letting Klay Thompson go, adding depth and the emphasis was on their youth. The Warriors are 7-17 since then, hitting a low point in their season with an ugly loss to Toronto Monday night — a defeat that saw their bottom 10 in league offense disappear along the way. If the postseason started today, the 19-20 Warriors wouldn’t even make the play-in.
That has led to calls from fans for the Warriors front office to make a trade – ideally a bold trade. Then Draymond Green, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr – the guys who would benefit most from trading their youth for more win-now guys – pushed the idea aside.
Here’s what Green told Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.
“The great thing about being in the space that we’re in is that Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and I all disagree with mortgaging the future of this organization, saying we’re in it now go, bad teams do that. Bad organizations do that. We are neither.”
Here’s Curry echoing those thoughts on Thursday night.
Steph Curry: “It’s a responsibility to keep the franchise in a good space (long term).”
At the level of front office operations: “If there was a situation that made sense for our team, I’m pretty sure we would be aware of it. That’s how we’ve always worked.” pic.twitter.com/VuLAjdjIRS
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 14, 2025
Finally, here’s Kerr on the subject: in conversation with The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
“We’re not giving in. But you have to be organizationally realistic about where you are now. And you have to take into account what’s going to happen in the future. I probably won’t be there, but I would tell you, if this organization would give in throwing out the next six or seven drafts for a wild swing would be the most irresponsible thing they could do.
There should be three pieces of context to these comments.
First off, it’s weird to hear this conversation from two of the league’s most competitive players: These guys want to win. Many players would be more selfish than this, but things are different in the Bay Area because Curry, Green and Kerr understand point No. 2 on this list.
Second – and most importantly – these Warriors are not one player away. There is no silver bullet. The Warriors should ride out the Curry wave — the best era in Golden State basketball history — knowing a rebuild is on the horizon. These Warriors shouldn’t send out picks or good young players just to land a player who can take them to seventh in the standings – be patient. Pull well. Develop players. Do all the things that made this franchise Curry, Green and Thompson get in the first place.
Finally, context matters: whether they should make a swing-for-the-fences trade depends on the trade. Should the Warriors send Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II and more for 35-year-old Jimmy Butler? No. No one currently on the market is worth such an all-in move (if a younger player of the caliber of Luka Doncic or Giannis Antetokounmpo ever became available, things would be different).
Make smaller moves for now, like landing Dennis Schroder (which didn’t work out as planned), but wait for the right big move to come along. That will happen eventually.