Mike Dunleavy Jr.

Warriors Notes: Horford, Kuminga, Melton, Dunleavy

October 1st, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Now that his contract with the Warriors is finally official, Al Horford was able to shed some light on his free agency decision during an introductory news conference on Wednesday, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Horford told reporters that he didn’t feel ready to retire and that Golden State seemed like the obvious place to go if he had to find a new team.

“It’s a great opportunity to compete and to win at a high level,” he said. “When I think about the Warriors, I think about (Stephen Curry) and Draymond (Green) and Steve Kerr and seeing Jimmy Butler here. What he did in that second half of the season last year after the trade and how they’re playing. It wasn’t an easy decision for me to leave Boston, but if there was the place, that was this one, and it happened and I happened to give this opportunity, so I jumped at it.”

When free agency began at the end of June, Horford never imagined that his next contract wouldn’t be signed until October. He reportedly committed to the Warriors early on, but nothing could be completed until the team resolved its standoff with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga.

“It was definitely a very odd offseason, just kind of waiting and waiting and seeing what’s going to happen, seeing what’s going to take place,” Horford said. “So just my whole focus was on my training and preparing myself and making sure that I was in the best place for when the season started.”

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Kerr isn’t concerned that Kuminga might create a distraction in the locker room after having to accept a team option in his new two-year contract, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic. Kerr said he contacted Kuminga “quite a bit” during the summer, and they’ll have a conversation about how things worked out when he reports to camp. “I’ve known JK for four years now,” Kerr said. “He’s not that guy to come in and tear a team down.”
De’Anthony Melton isn’t upset that the Warriors traded him to Brooklyn last December after he suffered an ACL tear early in the season, relays Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter video link). “Business is business,” he said. “I probably would have traded myself too.” Melton added that he decided to return because he enjoyed his brief experience with the team and he likes the medical staff.
It took a long time to assemble, but general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. is gleeful about his current roster, notes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “We’ve got everything signed, sealed, delivered roster-wise and (we’re) pretty excited about this group, about this season,” he said. “(We) feel like we made some really good additions and obviously have some really good key returning players as well as some young guys that we think will be able to take a step. The main thing here is the team we put together, we feel like will be in the mix this season.”

Warriors Made New Offer To Jonathan Kuminga, But Stalemate Continues

September 15th, 2025 at 9:10am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors made a new contract offer to restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga last week, hoping to end the standoff that has prevented them from completing other offseason moves, sources tell Anthony Slater and Shams Charania of ESPN.

Golden State’s latest proposal is a three-year, $75.2MM deal with a team option in the third season, according to the authors’ sources. It includes $48.3MM in guaranteed money over the first two years, which Slater and Charania point out is nearly equal to the annual salary that restricted free agent Josh Giddey received last week in his new contract with Chicago. They add that the major difference is that Giddey received four guaranteed years with no options on either side, while Kuminga would most likely be a trade asset under his next contract rather than part of the team’s long-term future.

The offer is an increase from the two-year, $45MM contract that was presented to Kuminga and his representatives earlier this summer. That deal also included a team option on the final season and a demand that Kuminga waive his inherent no-trade clause.

The authors describe the Warriors’ insistence on those provisions, even in the new proposal, as a “major part” of the prolonged standoff. Their sources say Golden State’s only offer without a team option was for $54MM over three years, which brings the annual salary down to $18MM.

Kuminga has been requesting a player option to give him more control over his future, sources tell Slater and Charania. He and agent Aaron Turner have been willing to accept a yearly salary in the $20MM range as a tradeoff, but they believe agreeing to a team option should bring Kuminga’s salary up to about $30MM per year. The Warriors consider a player option to be a “nonstarter,” according to the authors.

The latest proposal from Kuminga and his agent is described as a “souped-up version” of Golden State’s qualifying offer, which is also still on the table. Kuminga would receive more money than the $8MM QO that was tendered in late June, but it would be a one-year deal that makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer and allows the Warriors to shop him as an expiring contract heading into the trade deadline. It also creates the possibility that Kuminga could spend another full season with the team and start negotiations fresh next offseason.

General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. turned down that idea, the authors state, as owner Joe Lacob is reportedly unwilling to accept any deal that puts the Warriors at risk of losing Kuminga next summer while getting nothing in return.

Lacob has been a strong believer in Kuminga ever since he advocated drafting him ahead of Franz Wagner in 2021, according to the authors. Sources tell them that Lacob refused to part with Kuminga in a proposed trade with Chicago for Alex Caruso two years ago, and he remained a vocal supporter even when the forward was removed from Steve Kerr‘s rotation last season. But sources tell the authors that Lacob has never intervened with Kerr on Kuminga’s behalf and has allowed the coach to make his own decisions about who gets on the court.

Kerr has indicated that Kuminga would see ample playing time this season if he opts to re-sign, according to Slater and Charania’s sources. However, Kuminga’s camp has pointed to comments that Kerr made during the playoffs — stating that Kuminga isn’t a natural fit alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler — and they suggest that staying with Golden State might not be the best move for Kuminga’s career.

Before the Warriors shut down the idea of a sign-and-trade, they received offers from the Suns (who intended to pay Kuminga about $80-88MM over four years) and Kings (three years at $63-66MM), who were both willing to give him a player option and make him their starting power forward.

However, the Warriors weren’t satisfied with the return in the proposed deals, which reportedly would have brought Royce O’Neale and second-round draft compensation from Phoenix or Malik Monk and a protected first-rounder from Sacramento.

With training camp starting in two weeks, the authors state that Kuminga’s best hope is for Lacob to intervene, either to give him the financial compensation that he wants or ease his pathway to another team. The Warriors have several moves on hold that can’t be completed until the Kuminga situation is resolved, so a final decision will have to be made soon.

Warriors’ GM Addresses Kuminga, Draft, Trade Options, Injuries

June 24th, 2025 at 10:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Meeting with reporters on Monday, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said Jonathan Kuminga will be “a main priority” heading into free agency, but he didn’t offer any hints on what the team plans to do, according to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Kuminga will be a restricted free agent after not reaching an extension prior to the start of the season. The 22-year-old forward has shown flashes of stardom during his four NBA seasons, but he has also been frustrated by inconsistent playing time, which became more pronounced after Golden State traded for Jimmy Butler in February.

Dunleavy told reporters that he would like to “figure something out sooner than later” with Kuminga, whether that turns out to be a new contract or a sign-and-trade. The Bulls and Heat have been mentioned as teams that might be potential trading partners.

Kuminga will be free to negotiate with anybody once free agency begins next Monday, but Brooklyn is currently the only team with enough cap space to make a competitive offer. If Kuminga were to get an offer sheet, the Warriors would have the option to match it, and Dunleavy pointed out that restricted free agency “can drag out a little bit.”

He added that management is comfortable “with who JK is as a player and what he can do for our organization” and said the Warriors will try to give him a more defined role if he remains with the team.

“I think those conversations (about a role) will need to happen — especially the way this season kind of unfolded last year,” Dunleavy added. “There were some moments where he wasn’t playing as much, and then the role is bigger. He’s injured. All this up-and-down. … (His role) will probably be necessary to clarify.”

Dunlevy addressed a few other topics during the press conference:

The Warriors hold the 41st pick in Wednesday’s draft, and Dunleavy indicated that he’s more likely to trade down than to try to move up into the first round, Gordon adds. Dunleavy will be hoping to repeat his late-draft success after finding Trayce Jackson-Davis with the 57th pick in 2023 and Quinten Post at No. 52 last year. “You’d be lucky to draft a guy in the second round who can make it at all,” Dunleavy said. “I think we have to be realistic about what it is. … We’re going to analyze this (draft), look at it and try to find the best player we can find that’ll contribute to this franchise.”
Dunleavy plans to be “opportunistic” in the trade market and hopes to improve the depth in the middle of the roster. With Butler, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green combining to make $170.5MM next season, Dunleavy acknowledged that the team can’t add another big contract. “We’ll look at players that we really like. It’s just almost impossible for us to add players in the salary range of guys we were looking at last season since we’ve added Jimmy,” Dunleavy said. “That would be the only limiter. But in terms of finding talent and improving this team, we’re going to look under every rock to try to do that.”
Dunleavy provided medical updates on Moses Moody (thumb surgery) and Brandin Podziemski (wrist and core muscle surgeries), saying they will “definitely be ready by training camp and even have a good portion of their summer for player development.”

Warriors Notes: Curry, Butler, Green, Kuminga, Podziemski

May 15th, 2025 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday, falling to the Timberwolves in Game 5 of their second-round series. After taking Game 1, Golden State was without Stephen Curry for all four of its losses in the Western Conference semifinals. Would the outcome of the series have been different if Curry hadn’t been sidelined by a strained hamstring?

“I am pretty positive that if we had Steph, we’d have won this series,” team owner Joe Lacob told Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic after the game.

“I don’t even have to think what (if),” head coach Steve Kerr said when asked whether he’ll wonder what the Warriors could have done with a healthy Curry (story via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). “I know we had a shot. I know we could have gone the distance. Maybe we wouldn’t have, but it doesn’t matter. Again, everything in the playoffs is about who stays healthy and who gets hot. Are you playing well at the right time?”

As Slater and Thompson note, the sentiment expressed by Lacob in particular is notable, since it suggests the Warriors believe in this group and don’t intend to seriously shake up the roster. Team sources tell The Athletic that the conversations within the front office entering the summer have been about how best to complement Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green, not about trying to acquire another star.

“On the surface, that’s why (Butler) signed for two more years — our belief we can make it work,” Curry said. “And we’ve proven that the last three months. Just gotta figure out what is going to get us to the next level as a whole. One guy can’t win it. Two guys can’t win it. It’s gotta be a team.”

The plan is for Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. to return as well, per Slater and Thompson, who write that Warriors ownership remains fully confident in its coaching staff and front office.

“I have a great coach and I have a great GM,” Lacob told The Athletic. “I have no problems with anything in respect to them. Mike made a fantastic trade (for Butler). Before we made that trade, we were one game under .500 and it didn’t look like we were going anywhere.

“We won a first-round series against a very good up-and-coming team with a lot of athleticism and size. I thought it was a hell of a win. Got us pretty tired probably for this series, and maybe that was just too much to overcome. In that first game (against Minnesota), Steph looked like he was going to cook, right? But what are we going to do? Stuff happens.”

For his part, Kerr also expressed enthusiasm about the Warriors going forward: “I’m excited. We’ve got Jimmy and Dray and Steph all coming back. Our young players performed really well. There’s a lot to look forward to.”

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Lacob remains one of Jonathan Kuminga‘s biggest fans, according to Slater and Thompson, who say it’s “nearly impossible” to believe the Warriors owner would let the restricted free agent forward sign an offer sheet with another team and leave for nothing this summer. A new deal for Kuminga and the Warriors is still on the table, sources tell The Athletic, though both sides are also expected to consider sign-and-trade scenarios.
“There are certainly things he has to improve on, but he’s 22 years old,” Lacob said of Kuminga. “He’s got a hell of a lot of potential, and I would think he would be a part of our future plans. Now we’ll have to see how the market all shakes out. We have a lot of evaluating to do. Not me necessarily. But everybody — from coaching staff to basketball operations. We’ll kind of sit around and talk about how we want to construct the team for next year and what the situation is with respect to him.”
The Warriors’ decision to resist trade offers for Brandin Podziemski last offseason wasn’t unanimous within the organization, per Slater and Thompson. Some of the people who were in favor of gauging Podziemski’s market believe the team needs “more of a Jordan Poole-type play-maker,” The Athletic’s duo says. The front office also believes Golden State needs more positional size at multiple spots, Slater and Thompson add.
Green said after the Game 5 loss that he’s “100 percent” confident the Warriors’ young players are capable of taking “the next step,” writes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Lacob also said he thinks Golden State’s younger contributors can take “yet another leap” and defended them from online criticism. “I get very upset when I read all this crap on the internet, these comments by people, you know, ‘This guy’s crap. That guy’s crap. The drafts were terrible.’ Bull—t!” the Warriors’ owner told The Athletic. “Our drafts were not bad at all. These guys are very young. They’ve had to fit into a very difficult situation with experienced players. It’s not like they can just go out and put up numbers. So I think we’ve drafted very well. We’ve got some good young players.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks and HoopsHype’s Mark Deeks have published their Warriors offseason previews, looking ahead to how the team might handle Kuminga’s restricted free agency, as well as making note of other veteran free agents, like Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II.

Warriors Notes: Kerr, Curry, Kuminga, Moody, Dunleavy

April 19th, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors got more than just a playoff berth by winning their play-in game against Memphis on Tuesday, writes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. They also ensured themselves of four days of much-needed rest before their first-round series begins Sunday night at Houston. Coach Steve Kerr said the break is welcome after weeks of fighting to earn a top-six spot and avoid the play-in tournament altogether.

“We desperately needed it,” Kerr said. “I’ve never seen a schedule like what we’ve faced, particularly with the stakes. Every game was meaningful — the two-week road trip followed by a back-to-back-to-back.”

Gordon points out that Golden State is the third-oldest team in the league and has five rotation players in their 30s. A loss on Tuesday would have meant a home game Friday night against Dallas, followed by a flight to Oklahoma City for a meeting tomorrow with the West’s top-seeded team.

“Rest is one thing, but not all rest is created equal in the sense of — you have to be intentional about how you use the days,” Stephen Curry said. “That doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything. You’re priming yourself. Weight room. Mentally. Skill-wise, getting your work in. So, it just helps to not have to prepare for a game. You realize you’ve been going for … six, seven months and the last two of it were really intense so it’s nice just to take a good pause.”

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Jonathan Kuminga has enjoyed some of his best games against the Rockets, but there’s no guarantee he’ll have a role in the first-round series, Gordon adds in a separate story. Kuminga was kept on the bench for the play-in game and Sunday’s crucial season finale against the Clippers, and his playing time has been scaled back since his 31-game absence with a sprained ankle. Gordon notes that Kuminga is averaging 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game against Houston this season while shooting 50.8% from the field and 42.1% from three-point range. “He’ll contribute,” Draymond Green said. “He’s great. He’s getting his work in. That’s all you can do in that situation is get your work in. And he’ll be meaningful for us in this series. I have zero doubt about that. The challenge for him is to stay mentally engaged, as it is for anyone in that situation, but I have zero doubt in my mind that he’s going to help us in this series.”
Moses Moody worked his way into a valuable defensive role by embracing assistant coach Jerry Stackhouse‘s philosophy of attacking opposing ball-handlers, according to Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. It’s a change from Moody’s first three NBA seasons when his playing time was limited because he was viewed as a defensive liability.
In an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. talks about how the team has changed since the Jimmy Butler trade, Green’s case for Defensive Player of the Year honors, and a few other topics.

Pacific Notes: Butler, Zubac, Lue, Van Gundy, LaVine, LeBron, Hachimura

March 20th, 2025 at 10:13pm CST by Earnest Marshall

Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. became one of the few top executives in recent history to trade for a former teammate when acquiring Jimmy Butler at this year’s deadline. Dunleavy, who played with Butler in Chicago, wasn’t deterred by the fact that some of the forward’s stints with prior teams had ended poorly, nor by Butler’s apparent willingness to hit free agency in 2025 (he wound up extending with the Warriors). Now, as NBA insider Jake Fischer writes, the move is paying dividends for surging Golden State.

“There’s nobody who could explain the intricacies of Jimmy Butler better than Mike Dunleavy,” a league source said to Fischer.

The Warriors knew they needed top-end talent, having reportedly pursued Lauri Markkanen and Paul George in the offseason and Kevin Durant at the deadline. In Butler, they acquired the impact player they sought. The Warriors are now 15-3 since the trade, and by extending Butler, they’re hoping to show him how much they value what he adds to the organization.

“This is a commitment to each other,” Dunleavy said. “I didn’t want this to be a temporary thing or a rental or anything like that. I think he feels the same way, on the backside of his career and doesn’t want to be jumping around.”

The Warriors signed Butler to a two-year, $110.9MM extension when he arrived in Golden State.

“I am wanted here,” Butler said. “I’m appreciated here. I’m grateful that [Dunleavy] saw what I could bring to this organization and this team.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

The Clippers‘ confidence in Ivica Zubac continues to grow, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes. Zubac is averaging career highs of 16.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game this season. He had a 28-point, 20-rebound game on Tuesday after having nearly recorded a triple-double (17 points, 14 boards and eight assists) on Sunday. “He’s doing a good job of taking his time, making the right pass and making the right play and so he’s only going to keep getting better,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Give him credit for what he’s doing.”
Lue missed Tuesday’s game due to back pain, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner. He previously missed four of the past six Clippers‘ games due to the injury. Assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy also missed Tuesday’s game due to personal reasons.
Kings guard Zach LaVine was unavailable on Wednesday due to personal reasons, but was active for their Thursday matchup against the Bulls, K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network reports (Twitter link). He’s averaging 22.7 points per game on .527/.441/.894 splits in his first 18 outings with Sacramento.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said he’s “hopeful” both LeBron James and Rui Hachimura will be able to return this Saturday, according to Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina (Twitter link). A report on Sunday indicated that James was expected to miss at least another week, so if he does indeed return on Saturday, he’d narrowly beat that timeline. Hachimura’s Saturday return seems more likely, since that original report suggested he would be able to come back within the week.

Scotto’s Latest: Dunleavy, Butler, Looney, Post, Finney-Smith

March 14th, 2025 at 1:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. delivered a strong message to his team after completing a trade for Jimmy Butler at last month’s deadline, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The complex five-team deal finally gave Golden State the additional star that Dunleavy had been seeking since last summer.

“I told them, ‘It’s time to win,’” Dunleavy said. “Whatever happened this season thus far where we’ve had some tough losses and our record isn’t what it needs to be. This signals it’s time to win, no f—ing around. We’ll see where we can get to.”

The Warriors have responded just as Dunleavy had hoped, going 13-1 when Butler has played and rising into the top six in the West. Since February 8, the team has the NBA’s third-best defensive rating at 108.7 and the third-best offensive rating at 121.5.

Dunleavy told Scotto that being a former teammate of Butler in Chicago gave him a “level of comfort” to make the deal and sign Butler to a two-year, $111MM extension.

“I think there’s a talent level that he brings that we needed at the top of the roster,” Dunleavy said. “There’s also a presence, a competitiveness, and an IQ. We need all those things on the court and in big moments. I think it raises the level of all of our players. Not only our role players but also (Stephen Curry) and Draymond (Green) to know they’ve got another guy with them that they can look around and feel like, ‘All right, we’ve got a chance.'”

There’s more from Scotto:

Veteran center Kevon Looney talked to Scotto about Butler’s effects on the Warriors and his own upcoming free agency. Looney has been with Golden State since he was drafted in 2015, but his playing time has declined over the last two seasons. He was mentioned in trade rumors before the deadline, and his future is uncertain as his contract gets ready to expire. “I’m focused on this season right now,” Looney said. “You never know what’s going to happen in a short period of time. I’m hoping I can stay healthy, have a great end of the season and playoffs, and then see whatever happens. You always try to be where you’re at, but things change. Free agency is always crazy, so whatever happens, happens.”
Quinten Post has been a surprise success story for the Warriors, earning a standard contract after starting the season in the G League. The rookie big man told Scotto he considers the contract to be validation for the work he did at the G League level. “I give myself credit from the moment I found out I was going to Santa Cruz. I put my head down and completely focused on that,” Post said. “I wasn’t even thinking about the Warriors. I was focused on winning our games in the G League and playing better basketball with my teammates there. I was locked in. I was going to win the G League. That was our plan. We were on a streak there. Then, all of a sudden, I got a call-up, and then I was here. The fact that I got converted, I felt was because I did the right things, and I got rewarded for it.”
Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith said his brief time playing for Jordi Fernandez gave him confidence that the first-year head coach will be able to turn the Nets into winners. He also talked to Scotto about the decision he faces on a $15.4MM player option for next season, which could determine his future in L.A. “You see what just happened with Luka (Doncic)? So, you’ve got to make sure you take care of yourself first,” Finney-Smith said. “We need to finish the season strong. If we win, everybody eats.”

Warriors Notes: Kuminga, Curry, Butler, Dunleavy

March 14th, 2025 at 8:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors, who’ve been tearing through the league since picking up Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, added another explosive element to their lineup Thursday night, writes Ron Kroichick of The San Francisco Chronicle. Jonathan Kuminga, who has been recovering from a lateral right ankle sprain that kept him sidelined since January 4, returned with 18 points in 20 minutes in a blowout win over Sacramento.

Golden State fans gave Kuminga a rousing ovation when he checked into the game midway through the first quarter, and Kroichick observes that he showed few signs of being rusty after the two-month layoff. He shot 7-of-10 from the field, finishing his night with three straight dunks.

“We’re a lot more dangerous in transition with him,” Kevon Looney said. “Early in the year, that was one thing we wanted to be better at. Since he’s been out, I don’t think we’ve been as good and our identity changed a little bit. But you see it when he’s out there: We’re a totally different team in transition. He’s putting a lot of pressure on the rim, and when he does that (Stephen Curry) gets open shots, Buddy (Hield) gets open shots, Moses (Moody) gets open shots.”

Kuminga described his ankle injury as “pretty bad,” and coach Steve Kerr told reporters that it turned out to be more significant than the team originally believed. Kerr experimented Thursday by playing Kuminga alongside Butler and Draymond Green in a small-ball lineup and was encouraged by how they looked together.

“What you notice is the different dimension (Kuminga) gives us, with his explosion to the rim,” Kerr said. “The way teams are playing Steph now, everybody is top-locking him. It completely distorts the defense, and it makes sense, but then you don’t have help in certain areas. So if you have a guy like JK who can attack and score at the rim, it’s a huge help.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

Curry became the first player with 4,000 career three-pointers, reaching that mark off a broken play in the third quarter, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. As Youngmisuk points out, he has made more than 1,000 long-distance shots since passing Ray Allen in 2021 for the all-time lead in that category. “It’s a clear milestone threshold,” Curry said. “A number that I didn’t think about, that it was realistic even from 2,974, which is a number that means the most because that was the record at the time. It’s beyond my wildest dreams to push a record that far.”
After Butler was dealt to the Warriors, he was determined to move past the drama that marked his contentious exit from Miami, according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape. He started by telling his new teammates that winning is more important to him than anything. “When I walked in, I was like, ‘Yo, look man, I’m only here to win,’” Butler said. “’I don’t care about nothing else. I don’t care about points. I don’t care about shots. I don’t care about none of that. I’m only here to win and I’ve always only been places to win. So, whatever y’all need me to do, y’all let me know.’”
Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard examines general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.‘s strategy for remaking the roster after a pair of major offseason trades fell through, making sure he had the right pieces in place when the opportunity arose to acquire Butler.

Warriors Execs, Players Address Jimmy Butler Acquisition

February 8th, 2025 at 8:13am CST by Earnest Marshall

The Warriors made a bold move at the deadline in acquiring six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, consolidating four players to bring him in and change the makeup of the roster. In a media session ahead of Golden State’s game in Los Angeles on Thursday, members of the Warriors and Butler himself discussed the move.

“I’ve always loved him,” owner Joe Lacob told The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. “I love Draymond [Green]. So we’re dealing with something similar. Incredible competitiveness. My kind of guy.”

The Suns were considered the top suitor for Butler for weeks, with reports repeatedly citing strong mutual interest between the two sides. Phoenix was considered to be the team most willing to pay Butler the maximum-salary extension he sought, and the star forward liked the idea of a future playing alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

However, Bradley Beal‘s contract – which includes a no-trade clause – proved too difficult to move and thus, Butler wound up in Golden State and Durant stayed put in Phoenix.

“[Butler] was trying to get where he thought he wanted to go,” Lacob said. “He just happened to be thinking incorrectly at the time. That’s now been amended.”

Given their reported desire to make a change to the roster, the Suns even engaged in talks about the idea of a trade that would have sent Durant either Golden State or Miami. However, Durant was uninterested in a reunion with Golden State, which prompted the Warriors to pivot to pursuing Butler.

Green, who played with Durant from 2016-19, downplayed Durant’s reported unwillingness to reunite forces, according to Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina. “Didn’t affect my life one bit,” Green said.

“When you walk on the court and you look on the other end and you see guys that you respect, half the battle is fought,” Green said of the Warriors trading for Butler. “And with Jimmy, that’s half the battle. So that’s going to be fun because we can compete at the highest level.”

Warriors players, including Green, seemed grateful that Golden State’s front office made a move that makes them more competitive this year after the team slid out of the playoff field over the course of the last couple months. Tied with the Kings but sitting in 11th, the Warriors have the final two months of the season to climb into the postseason.

“We’re going in a direction,” general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said. “We have three kind-of-older generational players. But the beauty of the whole thing to me is we’ve got a lot of good complementary pieces. We’ve got assets, we’ve got young players. So in some ways in terms of our financial stuff, there’s a commitment. But on the whole, we’ll have a lot of flexibility.”

The Warriors explored other moves leading up to the deadline, according to Slater, but they value what veterans on expiring contracts like Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II bring to the locker room.

The rest of the Warriors’ season will also be about replenishing their roster after they were left with four open spots on their 15-man roster. They filled one of those by converting center Quinten Post to a standard deal and Santa Cruz Warrior Kevin Knox could be another consideration, per Slater.

Dunleavy and Lacob both applauded one another for their willingness to be aggressive. This move allowed them to add a star player without sacrificing the likes of Brandin Podziemski or Jonathan Kuminga. According to Slater, the Warriors will be able to reassess in the summer and still be in position to make another big move at that point if they see fit.

As for Butler, he expressed excitement about having the chance to play alongside the best shooter in the world in Stephen Curry, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. He’s hoping to make his Warriors debut on Saturday against the Bulls.

“I got a feeling I’m [going to] be back, in a big way, too,” he said. “So I’m smiling. I’ve been going at it, I’ve been training, I’ve been doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. I know that I have my joy back now. I’m in a different situation, different group of guys.”

Butler himself was a big winner of the deadline, finding a team willing to pay him big money in a CBA landscape that makes teams have to be more conscious with how they allocate their finances. He and his new team reportedly agreed to a two-year, maximum-salary extension projected to be worth $111MM.

“I’m not going to say that was a big part,” Butler said of his contract playing into his exit from Miami and the new one he received from Golden State. “But I’m happy about it. I am happy about it. I think the biggest part was getting me to be able to play basketball again. I just want to be able to go out there and do what I’ve been doing for a very long time. And have fun, smile, rip and run and not feel like I’m just doing cardio majority of the game. So I’m very, very, very happy that I’m not getting suspended no more.”

Dunleavy: Warriors Will Continue To Look For Upgrades

December 16th, 2024 at 3:59pm CST by Rory Maher

Discussing the trade acquisition of veteran point guard Dennis Schröder, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said the Warriors will continue to be aggressive in their search for roster upgrades, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

After starting the season 12-3, the Warriors have gone just 2-8 over their past 10 games. They are currently 14-11, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.

“We’re always aggressive,” Dunleavy said. “You got to be mindful of what you’re giving up, what you’re getting back, all those things. But anything to do to make the team better, we’re going to do.

“We’re in a time zone here of maximizing our window with Steph [Curry], Draymond [Green] and Steve [Kerr] as our coach. So as proven here on the first day we could basically make trades with certain players, we did that. … For the most part I feel good about this team, particularly on the defensive end, and now we have a player that we think could create and generate more offense for us. I want to evaluate and see, but we’ll always be looking at stuff.”

Schröder is playing on an expiring $13MM contract, making him an unrestricted free agent next summer. One report indicated the Warriors could look to flip him in a future deal for a star-level player, since he’s eligible to be aggregated with other salaries starting February 5, just before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

However, Kerr suggested Schröder could start in the backcourt alongside Curry. And Dunleavy claims Golden State views the 31-year-old German as more than just a “short-term rental,” as Youngmisuk puts it.

“We still think he’s got a lot of good years left in him,” Dunleavy said of Schröder. “And we’ll have his [Early] Bird rights, the ability to re-sign him after the season. We think he’s a good fit for us on both sides of the court and hopefully there’s a relationship here longer than just a few months.”

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