WHAT’S NEXT, WARRIORS?
Offseason:
The season is over, the Raptors are champions, and the Golden State Warriors have no choice but to head into the great unknown.
After their performance this postseason, they can trudge forward with their heads held high.
But that doesn’t make this summer any less daunting.
For more than a year now, this offseason has loomed over the Warriors. It was a dark cloud of uncertainty that they needed to compartmentalize en route to a fifth-straight NBA Finals appearance and, they hoped, a third-straight title and a fourth in five years. Cloud? What cloud?
Well, it’s come over the horizon now. Darker and far more ominous than expected, thanks to the tragic circumstances of the final two games of the Finals.
In the balance over the next few weeks, of course, is the Warriors’ standing as the flagship of the league.
No one can take away the championship mettle the team showed over the course of this postseason. It’s that heart that takes a team with great talent and makes it elite, that turns it into a juggernaut that “ruins the league.”
But what if the Warriors don’t have that great talent moving forward?
Oh, yeah … that cloud.
Said Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Friday: “We’re in new territory now.”
Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers watches as Klay Thompson is assisted off the floor after tearing the ACL in his left knee in the third quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday.
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Warriors’ Kevin Durant sits on the court after he ruptured his Achilles tendon during the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto on Monday.
JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Dieter Kurtenbach
Columnist
About Kevin
Summer 2019 was supposed to bring “The Decision 2.0” — Kevin Durant’s choice of where he would play basketball in the 2019-20 season and likely beyond. He was going to irrevocably change the NBA.
But Durant won’t be playing next season after rupturing his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NBA Finals just 12 minutes into his comeback attempt.
Where Durant chooses to sign is still of critical importance to the NBA, but the calculus has completely changed in the wake of his injury.
No player in NBA history has ever fully recovered from this injury. It’s the biggest, strongest ligament in the body, and for it to go was once a death sentence for a basketball player.
Still, the Warriors are going to extend Durant a full “super-max” contract this summer — five years, roughly $220 million.
The most other teams can offer Durant is a fouryear, $164 million contract.
But if Durant wants out of Golden State — whether it be for the handling of the calf injury that kept him off the court or other reasons — the Knicks (and other teams) are still expected to extend full max offers, though the likelihood is that some teams will stay out of the bidding because of the injury and the peculiarity of adding an unknown entity.
So long as those offers actually come — and there’s every reason to believe that the Warriors will follow through on their end, as they have no way to replace Durant, no matter what percentage he comes back to play at — the forward will opt out of his $31.5 million oneyear player option with the Warriors for next season.
It’s impossible to say with certainty, given Durant’s inscrutability, but it’s possible that the Achilles injury will help the Warriors’ chances of keeping KD.
What a dark thought.
About Klay
Warriors swing guard Klay Thompson also is a free agent this summer, but he has always favored returning to the Bay Area. His ACL tear should not change anything in that regard. The Warriors are prepared to spend max money on Thompson, too. His deal would be five years, roughly $190 million.
And while an ACL tear is an injury from which you can expect Thompson will make a full recovery, the fact that Thompson should be out until Christmas, at the very least, might scare off some teams that have pressing needs.
The Clippers should make a solid run at Thompson, though — forcing Golden State to offer him everything that they can (which is more than any other team can offer). They shouldn’t think twice about it, and they won’t. Klay will be back.
No matter where Durant signs, he will not play next year. Thompson should be expected to re-sign, but even with his Wolverine-level healing abilities, it’s extremely difficult to imagine a circumstance where he will be on the court before the calendar flips to 2020.
A core of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Thompson can do great things — as we saw this past postseason — but the ’19-20 Warriors need to qualify for the postseason before they can find out what that triumvirate can do against what will likely be a reshuffled Western Conference.
Which is to say Curry and Green are going to need some bodies around them.
Extending big money to Thompson and Durant is a no-brainer decision — which is good, because the Warriors are going to need a lot of brain power, and even more money, to put a respectable team on the floor to open Chase Center in the fall.
The role players
Shaun Livingston is likely to retire this summer, ending one of the most inspiring careers the modern game has seen. He was a true testament to perseverance and professionalism, but, ultimately, his body had enough.
Andrew Bogut is going back to Australia. He might make another lateseason cameo in 2020, but he’ll start his basketball season with the Sydney Kings.
DeMarcus Cousins said Thursday that he’s open to a return to Golden State. And while the Warriors were ready for him to be one-and-done, the circumstances of the last two games open up the possibility that they’d now be open to his returning for another season, though they would only be able to offer him a 20% raise over his $5.3 million salary. Is there a robust, external market for the big man coming off an Achilles and quad injury?
Kevon Looney is a free agent this summer, too. The Warriors will aim to retain him — as they have his Bird rights (which allows a team to re-sign a player, despite being over the salary cap) — though another team would be wise to make a solid offer to the big man, if for no other reason than to extract a bit more money from the Warriors’ coffers.
Quinn Cook, Jonas Jerebko and Jordan Bell are free agents, too. I can see all three staying; I can see all three leaving. None will be offered more than a minimum-value contract by Golden State.
Andre Iguodala is under contract as well. There will be trade suggestions (don’t call them rumors), but it’s doubtful he’d have much trade value around the league, and at this stage in his career, he needs to be handled with care. And yet he’ll be their third-best player to start the campaign. That’s what makes the 2019-2020 regular season tricky for Golden State.
So, who can the Warriors add? Because the Warriors are so far over the salary cap, they cannot go out and sign big-money free agents from other teams. They do have three routes to spend on free agents this summer, though: They can sign players to minimum contracts; they can use the mid-level exception (roughly $5.7 million); and if Durant re-signs they can ask for and be granted a disabled player exception, worth roughly $9.2 million.
But again, every cent matters when you are being taxed the way the Warriors will be next season. The mid-level exception would likely cost the Warriors more than $30 million in taxes. Using the disabled player exception would bring in a tax bill of more than $60 million, just for one player.
It’s tricky stuff for general manager Bob Myers and his staff to handle.
The more pressing and pertinent issue is the NBA Draft, which is in less than a week. The Warriors have the No. 28 and No. 58 pick on Thursday, and they could buy a second-round pick on top of that (there’s a roughly $5 million cap on buying a pick).
No matter what, they need to come away with two solid players for both the present and the future.
Whether the Warriors keep their two star free agents or not, they will need to find and develop worthwhile role players (like Looney and Alfonzo McKinnie) to put around them — and they need to do it for as little money as possible. dkurtenbach@ bayareanewsgroup. com
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr answers questions during a postseason news conference Friday in Oakland.
DOUG DURAN — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
