SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors enter training camp next week facing a consensus belief they didn’t do enough this summer to leap back into realistic title contention. They lost an aging legend, made some smart mid-rotation tweaks and missed out on the two major trade targets (Paul George and Lauri Markkanen) that would’ve significantly upgraded their top-level talent.
In their return to a media setting on Thursday afternoon, both general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and head coach Steve Kerr expressed optimism about the reconfigured group, which appears deep but without a championship ceiling despite employing Stephen Curry. Dunleavy addressed that reality, hinting at the front office’s unwillingness to green light riskier trade options this summer — like Zach LaVine, for example.
“We’re probably as impatient a franchise as you can be right now given our time horizon and all that,” Dunleavy said. “But there’s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined. I feel good about the discipline that we held this summer and the roster we built and the growth from within that we’re going to have. I know everybody is always looking for big headline breaking news and all that, but I really like this team.”
Dunleavy then said more forcefully later: “There’s no point in going all in to be slightly above average.”
Part of the reason Kerr and Curry feel comfortable with the plan is an understanding that Dunleavy, Joe Lacob and the franchise’s decision-makers have expressed a willingness to mortgage some of their future should the right trade come along. They still have control of an appealing set of first-rounders and could attach that to some of their young talent. They plan to be aggressive shoppers in-season.
“Does that mean we’re definitely going to do something? No,” Dunleavy said. “We were super aggressive last year around the deadline. Didn’t do a whole lot. You’ve got to have a partner. Making deals in this league can be tough. But the effort and the urgency will always be there.”
Mike Dunleavy on the Warriors
“We’re probably as impatient as you can be as a franchise right now given our time horizon. But there’s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined.”
“There’s no point in going all in to be slightly above average.” pic.twitter.com/bH4VwpoZ65
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 26, 2024
Motivated Andrew Wiggins
One of the internal paths to growth for the Warriors can come from one of their more veteran players. Wiggins had a career-worst offensive season last year, his 10th in the league. His deep November slump coincided with the Warriors’ early-season spiral. He entered the season out of prime playing condition and struggled to regain form.
But Wiggins is still 29. Both Dunleavy and Kerr pinpointed him as the player who has impressed in the lead-up to camp. Wiggins dealt with a personal blow recently. His father, former NBA player Mitchell Wiggins, died in early September after dealing with prolonged health issues that weighed on Andrew the last couple of seasons.
“He looks physically really fit,” Kerr said. “Speaking with him, he sounds very motivated. He’s very much at peace. I think he’s in a place where he knows the last couple years have been tough for a lot of reasons and I think he’s primed to get back to where he was a couple years ago. He’s at the age where he’s right in his physical prime, and we’ve seen him do it. He helped us win a championship.”
Back in July, the Warriors and Wiggins agreed that he shouldn’t compete for Team Canada in the Olympics, instead prioritizing getting his body ready for the NBA season.
“He’s been in the gym all summer,” Dunleavy said. “Can just sense a little bit different vibe from him this time of year. His body looks great. He’s been through a lot personally, but as far as the basketball part of it, I think he’s in a good spot. We’re optimistic he’s going to have a great season.”
Wiggins averaged a career-low 13.2 points last season. His field goal and 3-point percentages took a dive. He was benched for the first time in his career in the middle of the season. But the production did tick back up in the final months and his scoring will be needed within a group that lacks a ton of supplementary shot creation next to Curry.
Steve Kerr on Andrew Wiggins: “He looks physically really fit. Speaking with him, he sounds very motivated…He knows the last couple years have been tough for a lot of reasons. I think he’s primed to get back to where he was a couple years ago.” pic.twitter.com/Ec3bXCouQf
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 26, 2024
Wiggins is the presumed starter at small forward. But presumed is the necessary qualifier. Kerr wants a competitive training camp in Hawaii and is making it clear that multiple starting spots are up for grabs.
“What I love about this camp is that we do have spots available,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have started a lot of games. Last year Wiggs, (Jonathan Kuminga), Draymond (Green), Trayce (Jackson-Davis) started some games. (Brandin Podziemski), De’Anthony (Melton), Buddy (Hield) has been a starter most of his career. It’s the easiest thing for me to do is just to tell the guys we’ve got starting spots available. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say how many to you or to them.”
The answer is probably two. Curry is the secure starting point guard. Green will occupy one of the frontcourt slots. Wiggins will be the small forward unless he plays himself out of it. But there’s an opening at shooting guard in the Klay Thompson vacancy and likely a choice between Kuminga and Jackson-Davis in the frontcourt.
Emphasis on defense
The Warriors added Melton, Kyle Anderson and Hield in free agency this summer. Hield’s addition was about shooting and floor spacing, something this roster lacked even before Thompson’s departure. But Melton and Anderson are defense-first chess pieces who improve the team’s ability to put versatile lineups on the floor to stop various types of offensive attacks.
“We’ve got to get back to defending at a high level,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve got to be in the top five, six, seven in the league in defense, at least. That’s really been the recipe here all along. You talk about the championship years, certainly back to 2022, I think we were second in the league in defense. We got off to a good start because we defended.”
Kerr agreed.
“Our transition defense fell off the map last year,” he said. “A huge emphasis in camp will be to shore that up. We do have, I think, better personnel this year to become a better defensive team, barring injury. Gary Payton’s healthy. I think he’s one of the most impactful defenders in the league. Kyle and De’Anthony in particular have been excellent two-way players. Trayce is a year older. Draymond remains one of the best defenders in the league.”
The Warriors leaned defense with some of their roster tweaks this summer. Mike Dunleavy: “We’ve got to get back to defending at a high level. We’ve got to be in the top five, six, seven in the league in defense, at least.” pic.twitter.com/OLz2tDgwLz
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 26, 2024
Latest on Kuminga and Moody extension talks
The rookie extension deadline is less than a month away. The Warriors have until Oct. 21 to work out a contract structure with Kuminga and Moses Moody. There hasn’t been much progress.
If nothing gets done, Kuminga and Moody will walk into restricted free agency next summer. Dunleavy kept it vague when asked about the state of negotiations, but did sound comfortable letting the situations roll into restricted free agency, if necessary.
“Regardless whether we get something done or not, we want those guys here,” Dunleavy said. “Just because you don’t get an extension done doesn’t mean they’re not going to be here for a long time. We’ll still have their rights in free agency if we can’t come to an agreement by the 21st. I think for them, the most important thing is we’ll get through these next few weeks with a deal or not a deal, but all that matters is they have great seasons.
Other notes
Kerr said he felt the Warriors have “been forgotten about a little bit.”
“A year ago, we won 46 games,” Kerr said. “We didn’t make the playoffs. The year before, we won 44 and we made the conference semis. So win total, I’m not sure you can even guess what it’s going to take. We do know the West is loaded. Memphis is going to be better. Houston is going to be better. San Antonio. You can go up and down the line. Oklahoma City is loaded. Denver is still Denver. Everyone is going to be really good. I think we’re going to be really good. I believe in this team and I’m excited for our prospects. But we have to go play, and it would be a disservice to our team if I said, ‘I want to win X amount of games’ or ‘I want to get this far.’ We’ve just got to go out and be the best team we can be.”
(Photo of Steve Kerr: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
