It’s OK for two things to be true at the same time: It’s vital for the Warriors to do what they can to add star talent around Steph Curry, and it would be silly to completely mortgage the future to do so.
In the NBA, those two ideas are usually, but not always, contradictory. That definitely puts Golden State in a tough spot.
But when it comes to the pursuit of Lauri Markkanen, the Warriors didn’t make a huge blunder.
By all accounts, Danny Ainge and the Jazz were asking for everything in a possible Markkanen trade: the best young player (or players) available and all the picks. They know how valuable the sharpshooting forward is, and would have only dealt him if a team overwhelmed them.
The Warriors were right not to pay a Kevin Durant price for Markkanen.
Sending Brandin Podziemski and potentially more of their young core, plus any future draft picks and swaps eligible for trades, for Markkanen probably would have left the Warriors no better than where they started for 2024-25 — and far creakier for the future.
As perfect a fit as Markkanen seemed, the only way trading for him would have worked for the Warriors is if they could add him to a core of Curry, Draymond Green, Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga.
That was evidently a non-starter.
Golden State’s intentions are clear, and they’re correct. The Warriors made a longshot bid to get LeBron James last season, tried to acquire Paul George from the Clippers in a sign-and-trade and were in on Markkanen. They know they need to get a No. 2 scoring option next to Curry, pronto.
But they don’t have the war chest of trade assets of other teams. Far from it.
Which leaves the Warriors in a familiar place: having dry powder and waiting for the next opportunity of a star player to become available. And given their lack of assets compared to other franchises in the league, they’ll need said disgruntled superstar to steer his way to Golden State.
Given the NBA’s recent history, that’s not impossible. Players under contract demand trades all the time, and they often navigate to their preferred destination.
It’s not exciting for the Warriors to head into the season with Curry, Green, 10 capable role players — including high-upside ones like Podziemski and Kuminga — and the buzzword of “optionality.” It wasn’t the Warriors’ first preference. But it is somewhat practical.
In terms of team-building and asset management, the Warriors deserve criticism. Extending Jordan Poole before they had to was a mistake (although there were obviously extenuating circumstances). Extending Andrew Wiggins was a mistake. There’s a case to be made that the Warriors should have made a high-level talent upgrade in the past two seasons — perhaps Pascal Siakam — and figured the rest out from there.
But the Markkanen pursuit that went nowhere isn’t on that list of failures.
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International play in the spotlight
Outside of football, which is a completely different beast unto itself, the most memorable major U.S. sporting moments in the past two years have come beyond the traditional sports leagues.
In baseball, nothing has topped the 2023 World Baseball Classic final between Japan and the United States. The singular at-bat of Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout was much more epic than anything Major League Baseball produced since (sorry, Bruce Bochy and the World Series champion Rangers).
And then in basketball, the general viewing public panned the Celtics’ easy path to the Finals and anticlimactic championship victory. America’s epic semifinal comeback win over Serbia, meanwhile, is already the stuff of legends. Just ask former Warrior Kevin Durant.
“That was at the top,” Durant said after the Serbia victory. “One of the best games I’ve ever been a part of.”
The Celtics-Mavericks series was the lowest-rated Finals since 2021. The Rangers’ World Series win was the least-watched Fall Classic in television history. The WBC championship and Serbia semis were box office blockbusters.
This phenomenon of international competition drawing a higher level of play — and corresponding attention — is new. The World Baseball Classic used to be fairly irrelevant. The United States is used to steam-rolling through the Olympic men’s basketball tournament for the most part.
Perhaps the games felt bigger because it’s nice to actually feel nationalistic for once — in a harmless way. In America, general patriotism has hovered around record lows for years, per Gallup. Putting aside political polarization or general discontent for a couple hours as the best athletes in the world represent the U.S. might take on a new meaning when flag-waving isn’t the day-to-day norm.
Whatever the reason, MLB and the NBA can’t be feeling great about their products taking a back seat in the zeitgeist.
Kerr’s Olympics catch-22
Steph Curry was the obvious hero, but Steve Kerr helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal, completely accomplishing the goal set out for him.
It’s still hard to find anyone giving him credit. As expected.
What’s most curious is someone of Kerr’s stature not receiving the requisite benefit of the doubt. He played for Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich and with Michael Jordan, winning five titles. He won a FIBA World Championship and was a dominant college player. He has led the Warriors to four more NBA titles and won Coach of the Year.
At some point, amidst the screaming outcry over his rotation choices, the resume has to speak for itself, even just a little bit.
But credit isn’t why he got into this business, anyway.
Kerr is sharp. He surely knew heading into the Olympics that he’d get no glory if he helped Team USA to gold, and all the vitriol if the U.S. fell short. That doesn’t make it right, but it does make his decision to step into the role commendable.
