The Path Forward: Re-sign Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton, extend Stephen Curry and pretend to aggressively work the trade market.
Missing out on a big name they could only sign or trade for at a discounted price has become a Warriors offseason rite of passage. If we are being brutally honest, losing the LeBron James sweepstakes will result in more of the same.
Golden State will re-sign Draymond Green. Probably De’Anthony Melton, too. Stephen Curry is eligible for a two-year, $136.7 million extension as of Aug. 29. The Warriors will give it to him.
Then, from there, the Warriors will do absolutely nothing. Because when you have the chance to run back virtually the same roster that won 37 games last season and likely won’t have Jimmy Butler or Moses Moody back before the calendar flips to 2027, you absolutely have to pounce on it.
To be sure, Golden State is not dealing with a ton of flexibility. It does not have the room to re-sign Green for anything approaching market value and use the $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
Still, the Warriors have the bandwidth to do more than cross their fingers that they can purchase cheap tickets to a Bradley Beal renaissance.
With the exception of 2030, they control all of their own first-round picks moving forward. And even the 2030 selection is under top-20 protection. They can still trade the juicier end of it. Salaries for Butler ($56.8 million), Moody ($12.5 million) and Brandin Podziemski ($5.7 million) give them plenty of different trade structures to explore.
Trey Murphy III, Zion Williamson, Aaron Gordon, Kevin Durant, Ryan Rollins, Derrick White and Michael Porter Jr. are just some of the names worth checking in on. Really, anything that suggests the Warriors are committed to doing more than the bare minimum to optimize what’s left of Steph’s window would suffice.