Getty Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry reacts amid his team's playoff elimination at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Repeating is hard to do in the NBA — and in any professional sports league, really. However, it’s difficult to look back on the Golden State Warriors‘ 2022-23 season and not feel as though the club’s effort didn’t measure up to even the most conservative forecasts.
From the training camp scuffle between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, to the team’s yearlong road woes to the failure of its young guns to meet the moment at times, nothing went according to the script that many expected the Warriors’ campaign to follow.
With that being the case, some have wondered whether the time may have come to start turning the page from the current dynastic era in order to build toward the next one. For his part, though, The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami doesn’t see it happening.
“I think the most likely scenario is that the Warriors keep most of this together for at least one more season. That’s what [Stephen] Curry wants. His opinion sort of matters,” he wrote in a June 7 mailbag column.
Kawakami: Warriors Not Looking to Become Sellers This Summer
Kawakami did make note of one scenario in which the Warriors might experience more turnover this offseason — specifically, Dubs ownership potentially moving to reduce the club’s mammoth luxury tax bill.
“If [Warriors owners Joe] Lacob and Peter Guber are determined to drop their financial commitment below $340 million or so, anything’s possible,” Kawakami wrote of the possibility that the Dubs could make significant moves this summer.
The team insider went so far as to suggest that former No. 7 overall pick Jonathan Kuminga could possibly be used to entice some other team into taking on some of the Warriors’ excess salary via trade. However, what could happen and what will happen are different things, in Kawakami’s eyes.
“But again, I don’t see that as a prime Warriors motivation right now,” he maintained. “They’ve got Curry. They’re likely to bring Draymond back. They’ve got Klay Thompson under contract for one more year. The strong lean will be to keep most of this together.”
All Signs Point to Dunleavy as Next GM?
Regardless of whether the Warriors decide to make significant changes to their roster or not, someone has to be making those calls from the top of the team’s front office. And while Lacob has stated that he’ll be taking his time in naming outgoing president/GM Bob Myers’ successor, Kawakami is of the opinion that he already has his man.
Namely, assistant GM and former 15-year player Mike Dunleavy Jr.
“If Lacob has a strong sense that it’s going to be Dunleavy, and I believe he does, there’s no rush on this,” Kawakami wrote. “Dunleavy’s been doing the day-to-day work already, he’s got Larry Harris, Shaun Livingston, Kirk and Kent Lacob and others to help out. Heck, Myers is still under contract for a few more weeks (until June 30) and can do some work, as Lacob pointed out last week.
“So the longer this goes, the likelier it is that Dunleavy will be eventually named GM.”