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Warriors have quietly had a strong summer, but Lauri Markkanen would put them back in title contention – CBS Sports
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The Golden State Warriors continued their quietly strong summer with a sign-and-trade with the Sixers for Buddy Hield on Thursday, replacing, at least one paper, some of the shooting hole left by the departure of franchise legend Klay Thompson.
You might be surprised to hear this, but the only player to make more 3-pointers than Hield’s 1,924 since 2016-17 (Hield’s rookie year) is Curry. Hield has made at least 260 3-pointers in a single season five times. Once again, only Curry has done it more times (10). Klay Thompson has only done it four times.
Hield is not even close to what Thompson was in his prime, so let’s not even go there. Yes, his shooting is, or at least has been, historic, and the pairing with Curry is going to invite the Splash Brothers comparisons (Splash Buddies is just waiting to pop). But Hield is about as one dimensional as a player can get. He can’t handle. Can’t create. Can’t defend.
What Hield is, really, is what the Warriors wanted Thompson to be at this stage of his career: A shooter off the bench who will have his nights but is not a core scorer, only they get Hield for a whole lot less money ($21M guaranteed over three seasons) than Thompson, who got $50M from Dallas, would’ve cost.
It’s one of a handful of smart moves Mike Dunleavy Jr. has made in his two summers as Golden State’s general manager, having taken over for Bob Myers in May of 2023. Dunleavy hit on both draft picks last summer with Brandin Podziemski, who was first-team All-Rookie this past season, at No. 18 and Trayce Jackson-Davis, who helped unlock Golden State’s defense later in the season, at No. 57.
After that, Dunleavy salary dumped Jordan Poole for Chris Paul, who was thought to be a major trade chip this summer. When the Warriors let him walk for nothing, it seemed, at first, like a missed opportunity, but Dunleavy instead focused on cutting salary to get below the tax line — by letting Thompson and Paul walk without taking back money — and to open up options for sign and trades and mid-level exceptions, which they have used on not only Hield but De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson, both of whom will help a lot.
This has been good work around the edges; meaningful rotational depth that aids in various ways. Melton is a very good defender who can score and shoot some. Anderson is a savvy offensive connector and a pretty good defender with length in his own right. It’s safe to say the Warriors have gotten better defensively. The offense is probably a little better, but Thompson is a still a real loss there. He might not be the same player he once was, but the guy shot 39% on nine 3-pointers per game last year, and defenses still feared him to degrees even Hield cannot replicate.
This last part is important, because for all these smart moves Dunleavy has made to beef up the support staff, there still isn’t anyone outside of Curry that strikes real fear into opponents. But that could change at any minute, with the Warriors reportedly going hard after Utah’s Lauri Markkanen. If Dunleavy pulls off that trade, it becomes a slam-dunk summer in the Bay.
Markkanen is a 7-foot (the Warriors desperately need size), high-volume 40% 3-point shooter who has averaged 24 PPG the past two seasons. He’s the second star the Warriors have been missing, really, since Kevin Durant left. Even the 2021-22 team that won the championship had to support Curry by committee. Markkanen, who is a versatile offensive player and operates great without the ball (perfect for playing with Curry and in Golden State’s system), would put the Warriors back in contention for a top-four seed and a potential long playoff run. Right now, without the Markkanen move, SportsLine projects the Warriors to win 48 games in 2024-25. That’s a two-win improvement, but a 48-34 record would’ve only secured a Play-In spot last season.
Problem is, he won’t come cheap. Danny Ainge, a certified thief, is on the other end of the line, and it was reported by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto that Utah is believed to be asking for “a trade package similar to what the Knicks gave up to acquire Mikal Bridges.”
That was five first-round picks, four of which were unprotected, plus another pick swap. Jonathan Kuminga could represent a couple of those first-round picks in terms of trade value, but Ainge would likely still want two or three more picks at least, and Golden State would prefer not to give up Kuminga.
Now, Ainge doesn’t necessarily have all the leverage. It’s true, he could, as of Aug. 6, use Utah’s available cap space to bump Markannen’s 2023-24 salary, which is currently just $18M, to as much as $42.3M and then extend his contract off of that number (for up to four years and $202 million), retaining Markkanen as the Jazz centerpiece moving forward, but once he’s on that big a contract he won’t be as easy to trade.
Right now, Ainge has a lot of suitors (the Spurs, Kings and Pelicans have all been reported to be at least interested) for a star player on a well-below-market contract. With the Jazz nowhere close to competing, does signing Markkanen to a max deal really make sense when you could instead load up on assets that more closely match the franchise’s timeline?
Probably not. And so, what we have is a team that would probably prefer to trade Markkanen and more than one team that would love to trade for Markkanen. If the Warriors can win that bidding war, it would seemingly be hard to pass up, even with having to give up a ton in the form of draft capital and possibly Jonathan Kuminga.
But it’s not a no-brainer. As enticing as it is to throw caution to the wind and go all-in on Curry’s remaining prime, Markkanen probably doesn’t make the Warriors a top-tier contender. Then again, should top-tier contention really be Golden State’s goal at this point? It seems like any level of contention, even on the fringes, is the chance Curry deserves, and Markkanen, again, would be the means to that end.
Dunleavy is no doubt going through all these scenarios right now. Weighing present and future. He’s done well around the edges, but to really make this summer a splash, a big move is needed. Markkanen is that move. Will he make it? The clock is ticking.
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