When Zaza Pachulia opted to sign with the Warriors this summer, he left millions of dollars on the table. The big man’s decision to take the $2.9M offer rather than other more lucrative ones came at a time when his value was at one of the highest points of his 13-year-year career.
According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the 32-year-old’s choice to forego more money and longer terms wasn’t all that tough to make, either.
“Not really,” Pachulia tells Scotto. “Honestly, at the moment that’s what my gut feeling was, especially after talking to Steve Kerr.”
In Pachulia, the sharp-shooting Warriors get a heady veteran capable of clearing floor space with his broad-shouldered screens.
Pachulia has seen action in 31 games so far this season and averaged 4.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the process.
That’s not all the news on the Warriors front:
- The Warriors will officially break ground on their new arena on January 17, the team has announced in a press release. The Chase Center, built in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, should be ready in time for the 2019/20 NBA campaign.
- In a phone interview with Steve Nash, Tim Kawakami of The Mercury News spoke at length about the retired point guard’s relationship with Kevin Durant. Nash, now a player development consultant with the Warriors, stressed that Durant’s free agency decision was a personal one. “He’s at a stage of his life where he wanted to challenge himself as a man and put himself in an environment where he felt there was room for a different kind of growth,” Nash said.
- Throughout his tenure with the Thunder, Durant’s relationship with the media was spotty. Recently, the superstar connected with ESPN’s Chris Haynes for a candid discussion about what’s different now versus then.
Zara is very soft defensive center
He remind me of Joe Barry Carroll