@gswcba.bsky.social: [[ Stein reiterated today that his sourcing indicates Jonathan Kuminga returned to the Congo this week without the intention of playing in AfroBasket for his national team.
Recent reports coming from African outlets have suggested otherwise.
That would be really sad if Kuminga is only using Afrobasket for his contract negotiations. I’m sure fans would love to see him play. And he’d have a showcase to demonstrate “what he can do.” So, why would he pass that up? Hmmm…
I dunno. Looks there aren’t any other NBA players on that roster, so I'd have imagined there would be a lot of value and no small measure of pride in having him on hand, even if he decides against playing. If they're trying to build a national program, his presence could be inspiring.
Warriors Back Into A Holding Pattern With Jonathan Kuminga - Sam Amick
Sam Amick from The Athletic joins The Morning Roast with insider details on the Jonathan Kuminga stalemate. We discuss Sacramento's Malik Monk offer, protection issues on the first-round pick, why Phoenix's $90M deal won't work, and Sam's revelation that Kuminga clearly doesn't want to be a Warrior anymore. Plus, analysis of how Monk would fit Golden State's system
He's really not a great shooter (TS% .549 last season ... barely above JK's admittedly lousy shooting season). He's basically had two efficient shooting seasons in his career, plus two meh seasons for a SG, and the rest, pretty bad.
I don't see how you can play him with Steph ... wasn't that the knock on JK?
And in addition if the pick is not delivered that year the second year they are offering San Antonio if its worse and that is of little valué. That could also be modified
OT: Came back from this mornings run and had to guard an ex-pro who played somewhere in South America. I gotta say he is the softest player I've ever seen and it really bums me out considering how talented he is. His playstyle reminds me a bit of John Salmons but calls fouls like he's SGA. The man called 6 fouls in a row and we were going up vertically while he was bumping into us.
To makes matters worse his girl was barking on the sideline wearing a f**king Lakers hat. Of course.
I wasn’t his primary matchup but caught him on a lot of switches since he’s a bit taller than me but he went like 2/5 on me and 5 soft ass fouls. He completely stopped playing the 2nd game and got ran off the floor so I like to think we made him feel us a bit.
Can’t remember which podcaster said it, but this one worked for me: MJ’s the best player ever; LeBron has had the best career ever.
So hard to compare the pre- social media era to the current one, but imo peak MJ was/is just a qualitative level above LeBron by all the intangible measures: aura, intimidation, charisma, style, grace, awesomeness, coolness, mystique, etc…
So I like the best player v best career split vote.
LeBron best NBA career, probably yes. Best career including college, Kareem’s wax pretty damn amazing…. 6 (!) MVPs is nuts. His UCLA career, his Milwaukee career, his Lakers tenure… really remarkable. Add in his social activism and he’s one of a kind.
Look, LeBeon is amazing, full stop. However, when considering statistics, it is worth remembering how much time LeBron spent in a markedly inferior Eastern Conference and all of the downstream impacts from that.
On this one I'm not as sure. What do you think his career would have looked like if he'd been a lifelong Jazz? Probably pretty similar dominance, no?
He was great on Cleveland early, great on Miami, great on Cleveland again, great on the Lakers, great in the Olympics (OK, OK, LeBronze aside), great in high school, great with great players next to him, great with crappy rosters, great as a scorer, great as a ballhandler ...it's about as well-rounded a greatness as we've seen.
Gotta define 'greatest.' LeBron easily wins the stats battle. But Curry revolutionized the way the game is played, not just in the NBA but all the way down to youth level and around the world.
LeBron moved from team to team, encouraging franchises to mortgage the future for a chance at a championship. Consequently, he was able to garner four (if we include the weird intermission-bubble championship during the pandemic shutdown). Curry stayed put and achieved four by working with whatever the Warriors could get.
Steph is widely praised for his unselfishness, off-ball movement, and joyful leadership, which foster a collaborative team environment. His style of play--constant motion, absurd deep-range shooting, and unparalleled gravity--stretches defenses to the breaking point and creates space and opportunities for others to thrive. He has made nearly all of his teammates better (this side of Kuminga and Oubre). LeBron has been the sun around which his teammates have revolved. They were expected to sacrifice scoring and usage to complement him.
I guess it comes down to what the beholder values most. I can't criticize anyone who picks LeBron as the greatest--the guy is a force--but in a team game, give me the guy who has been loyal to one franchise and made nearly all of his teammates better.
Yeah, that's fair. It all depends on the definition. One can also say "peak best is what matters" and then MJ has his case. Or all the things you say about Steph, including "Who revolutionized the game, left a lasting change," where Steph really destroys both of those guys.
LeBron has been an all-star for as long as Wembenyama has been alive. That said, Lebron plays the game to perfection, but he ended up playing Curry's game and who's to say that's not the real GOAT?
Also there's a lot more knowledge about extending careers these days, LeBron allegedly spends like 1-1.5 million a year on maintaining his body although he denies that. Bill Russell wasn't doing that.
I think comparing how much they dominated at their (extended) peaks is probably more translatable than comparing the longevity (and also that comparing stats across eras can get difficult and it should be more about how much you dominated your era). I remember hearing a joking discussion about how in baseball you have "compilers" who play a long time and get a bunch of stats which makes them look more impressive historically than they felt at the time, and I think it was actually a salient point.
Yeah, that makes sense to me, although Lebron is a compiler in the sense of Hank Aaron imo. Part of their greatness derives from the clockwork near MVP-level production they were able to sustain across multiple decades, although I think Lebron also had a peak very few can compete with.
Along those lines, the LeBron stat that blows my mind the most is eight consecutive Finals appearances with three different teams. Bill Russell had 10 consecutive finals appearances, and that's the record, but all with the same team.
Someone on GSoM just cited a report saying Kuminga had agreed to play in AfroBasket. Don’t have time to fact-check it, but if it’s true, it would definitely imply the terms of a deal (either with GS or S/T) are in place.
Saw someone tweeted yesterday that JK has met up with the Congo national team but of course obscure news like that is usually from an unverified source so I didn't know if it was worth posting
I think it's not about showcasing his skillset. That's just not where you go if you want to be seen by the world, and by the NBA. For him, it's home, and I think that's why he's there.
I think he's likely not playing in the games unless he gets his situation sorted out, this is just him training with the team to be ready in case his situation does get sorted out in time.
I saw KG talking with Paul Pierce about off-season scrimmaging in a podcast a couple of weeks ago. KG said that one reason players get more injuries now is they do a lot of lifting but not enough stretching and especially not enough scrimmaging. They agreed that when they played in the league, everybody scrimmaged as much as possible during the off season, so they came into camp game-fit and ready to play, and they had fewer injuries, especially calf and ACL injuries.
That’s a risky strategy beyond the chance of getting hurt.
If he plays poorly, which is easy to do with a bunch of guys you don’t normally play with, he might hurt his value. If he plays well, it’s easy to write it off as doing well vs. inferior competition.
It's always fun to watch Steph score and dish on offense. But I still think the single greatest play I've ever seen Steph make was his steal and subsequent layup in crunch time in the Olympic semis against Serbia. The USA was scrambling on defense and Steph dropped down to switch near the baseline, but then suddenly changed directions, raced back towards the FT line, picked off Bogdanovic's pass and took it the other way (with the help of a great seal by Booker). He knew how the play was going to turn out before it happened - probably knew Bogdanovic's tendencies and studied film of Serbia. To pull off a play like that, under the circumstances, shows Steph's all-around greatness.
Great breakdown. For those interested, the play starts at 10:41 of the video. Watching it again, it's clear that Steph leaves the man under the basket wide open for a dunk/layup because he's sure Bogdanovic is going to try to pass it out towards the arc, and the rest is history
OT: When they move WNBA games to an NBA arena they bring the WNBA team floor with the name of their home arena. So you're supposed to pretend they aren't playing at the Mavs arena.😆
Imma be honest with you all. Id rather take Devin Carter and a very lightly protected first than trade Chavano or Moody. I can be convinced on a Moody trade though IF we don’t treat it as part of a JK trade but rather as a matching salary to get a rotation veteran that will get minutes.
Yeah. Once I found out we’d be hard capped at the first apron for Monk without trading one of them I’m no longer on that train. Still holding out for Keon Ellis. They shouldn’t let him go but it is the Kings after all.
I would flip this around on the Kings. Would they take JK/Buddy/2026 FRP (top 10 protected) for Keon and Monk? Basically to them going from the deal offered now to the one I propose, it's the equivalent of two FRPs for Keon Ellis. Sounds like a ton, right? Given that it's still in the contenders phase for the Dubs, it's probably not that big a FRP. And then the one down the round which we don't view as valuable is flipped around. For trade rules, you probably have to include TJD so salary is slightly higher going out for the Dubs.
You then sign Horford, Melton, Boucher, and Lyles. Roster:
Steph/Monk
Keon/Podz/Melton/Richard
Jimmy/Moody/Gui
Dray/Boucher
Horford/Post/Lyles
It's obviously guard heavy and not perfect, but that's a very solid team.
I think it would have to be Buddy. In a way. He is more replaceable. and Moody is giving up a lottery pick who is finally developed. From the win Now perspective, the Warriors would be giving up two lottery, picks for one player, and a future pick. Unless they have something very substantiatgey could turned up pick around for. It really doesn’t make sense. Neither Buddy ir moody can just be considered a throw in. Although it hasn’t been mentioned, I think they could do something else such as sign and trade Gary Payton, as part of the deal at a fairly high salary. And if there were a Taker for that, that would then solve the problem. (but i sysowct getting a Taker would have its own complications and ramifications.)
Not sure if Portland would go for this, but what about:
- Sac: JK (~22.5ish mil AAV? doesn't have to be exact I don't think)
- Miami: Monk, Thybulle
- Portland: Podz, Moody, (TJD or Gui), Kings protected 1st, Miami protected 1st, Warriors 2026 unprotected (or top-3 or something)
- Warriors: Camara, Rozier (lol, but needed to get a pick from Miami and match salary. Is on an expiring contract)
If JK somehow gets $26 mil AAV, Wiggs can be put in instead of Rozier, but then Miami might not want to send a pick.
The Warriors stay non-hard-capped, and it still gives us a bad but expiring contract to trade at the deadline.
Sign Horford, Seth, Melton, GPII, Richards, Cryer to regular contracts, and leave the last slot open. (Sadly, Mr. Plow can't be traded for 30ish days so we can't get him).
I'd rather have Derrick White than Camara, but the price would be much higher, and would probably hard-cap us.
-JK is gone anyway (and the offers aren't super-great so far, although I have faith in MDJ)
- I like Moody, but I don't think he's a long-term starter, even post-Curry
- Podz is great, but I feel like Camara, who's already a really really good defender, could anchor a post-Dray defense for over a decade. Also Podz might want $30+ mil next offseason, when he's extension eligible.
- unlike a trade for White, no post-Curry picks involved
- Rozier sucks, and I'd hope that he'd ride the bench until we trade him at the deadline, but his contract could also be used like we hoped to use JK's. He's only in there to make the salaries work.
- we could use the money (with no apron cap) to bring back GPII, etc
Of course, 99% chance we just get most of what we want for JK from Sac and leave it at that and move on with signings. In MDJ we trust!
@gswcba.bsky.social: [[ Stein reiterated today that his sourcing indicates Jonathan Kuminga returned to the Congo this week without the intention of playing in AfroBasket for his national team.
Recent reports coming from African outlets have suggested otherwise.
Curious to see how this plays out. ]]
JK is not listed on the roster for DR Congo.
https://www.afrobasket.com/DR-Congo/Basketball-National-Team/2025#google_vignette
That would be really sad if Kuminga is only using Afrobasket for his contract negotiations. I’m sure fans would love to see him play. And he’d have a showcase to demonstrate “what he can do.” So, why would he pass that up? Hmmm…
I dunno. Looks there aren’t any other NBA players on that roster, so I'd have imagined there would be a lot of value and no small measure of pride in having him on hand, even if he decides against playing. If they're trying to build a national program, his presence could be inspiring.
I wonder if there's any chance this goes past the QO acceptance deadline and drags all the way up until the regular season opener
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIi8XMCoXoM
Warriors Back Into A Holding Pattern With Jonathan Kuminga - Sam Amick
Sam Amick from The Athletic joins The Morning Roast with insider details on the Jonathan Kuminga stalemate. We discuss Sacramento's Malik Monk offer, protection issues on the first-round pick, why Phoenix's $90M deal won't work, and Sam's revelation that Kuminga clearly doesn't want to be a Warrior anymore. Plus, analysis of how Monk would fit Golden State's system
Just make it Keon Ellis instead of Monk, or Mark Williams instead of Nick Richards, and get ‘er Dun!
Agreed.
yuck, I really don't like the idea of Monk.
Small, not much defense.
He's really not a great shooter (TS% .549 last season ... barely above JK's admittedly lousy shooting season). He's basically had two efficient shooting seasons in his career, plus two meh seasons for a SG, and the rest, pretty bad.
I don't see how you can play him with Steph ... wasn't that the knock on JK?
Really hope we can do better.
Agreed. He seems to kill us, but his stats are uninspiring to say the least
If Amick is right, the protection on the pick is the issue.
Chance of course but probably not!
And in addition if the pick is not delivered that year the second year they are offering San Antonio if its worse and that is of little valué. That could also be modified
OT: Came back from this mornings run and had to guard an ex-pro who played somewhere in South America. I gotta say he is the softest player I've ever seen and it really bums me out considering how talented he is. His playstyle reminds me a bit of John Salmons but calls fouls like he's SGA. The man called 6 fouls in a row and we were going up vertically while he was bumping into us.
To makes matters worse his girl was barking on the sideline wearing a f**king Lakers hat. Of course.
I hope somewhere in there you got in a steal or a block, something to let him know you weren't giving in just because he was calling fouls.
I wasn’t his primary matchup but caught him on a lot of switches since he’s a bit taller than me but he went like 2/5 on me and 5 soft ass fouls. He completely stopped playing the 2nd game and got ran off the floor so I like to think we made him feel us a bit.
Comparing LeBron to Michael Jordan:
| Seasons | 13 | 15
| Points | 27,128 | 32,292
| Assists | 6,815 | 5,633
| Rebounds | 7,227 | 6,672
| FG% | 50.0% | 49.7%
| PPG | 27.2 | 30.1
| APG | 6.3 | 5.3
| RPG | 7.2 | 6.2
| MVPs | 4 | 5
| Finals MVPs | 3 | 6
| Championships | 3 | 6
| All-Star Selections | 12 | 14
| All-NBA 1st Teams | 10 | 10
| All-Defensive 1st Teams | 5 | 9
BUT WAIT!!!! THAT'S ONLY THE **FIRST HALF** OF LEBRON'S CAREER, 2003-2016
Once he was done with that, let's look at LeBron 2017–2024 vs. Magic Johnson's career:
| Seasons | 8 | 13
| Points | 14,345+ | 17,707
| Assists | 4,756+ | 10,141
| Rebounds | 4,216+ | 6,559
| FG% | 50.3% | 52.0%
| PPG | 26.0 | 19.5
| APG | 6.7 | 11.2
| RPG | 7.7 | 7.2
| MVPs | 0 | 3
| Finals MVPs | 1 | 3
| Championships | 1 | 5
| All-Star Selections | 8 | 12
| All-NBA 1st/2nd Teams | 6 | 10
I mean, come on. That's TWO Hall of Fame careers. Boy do I wish I could say that Steph is the GOAT, but this is ridiculous.
It's an interesting problem that NFL fans don't really have to deal with, as Brady has both the championships of Jordan and the longevity of LBJ.
I think this is the golfing equivalent of Jack vs Tiger.
Edit: was supposed to reply to Sleepy's post re best career vs best player below
Can’t remember which podcaster said it, but this one worked for me: MJ’s the best player ever; LeBron has had the best career ever.
So hard to compare the pre- social media era to the current one, but imo peak MJ was/is just a qualitative level above LeBron by all the intangible measures: aura, intimidation, charisma, style, grace, awesomeness, coolness, mystique, etc…
So I like the best player v best career split vote.
LeBron best NBA career, probably yes. Best career including college, Kareem’s wax pretty damn amazing…. 6 (!) MVPs is nuts. His UCLA career, his Milwaukee career, his Lakers tenure… really remarkable. Add in his social activism and he’s one of a kind.
LeBron edges him out still but not by a lot IMHO.
Airplane>>Space Jam>regurgitated Space Jam. Add Game of Death, and we certainly have a winner here.
Yes, I've heard and thought that, too, and it makes complete sense.
Look, LeBeon is amazing, full stop. However, when considering statistics, it is worth remembering how much time LeBron spent in a markedly inferior Eastern Conference and all of the downstream impacts from that.
On this one I'm not as sure. What do you think his career would have looked like if he'd been a lifelong Jazz? Probably pretty similar dominance, no?
He was great on Cleveland early, great on Miami, great on Cleveland again, great on the Lakers, great in the Olympics (OK, OK, LeBronze aside), great in high school, great with great players next to him, great with crappy rosters, great as a scorer, great as a ballhandler ...it's about as well-rounded a greatness as we've seen.
He’s great yes. He’s not getting to 10 straight finals in the West like he did in the east.
Eight straight, ten total.
Gotta define 'greatest.' LeBron easily wins the stats battle. But Curry revolutionized the way the game is played, not just in the NBA but all the way down to youth level and around the world.
LeBron moved from team to team, encouraging franchises to mortgage the future for a chance at a championship. Consequently, he was able to garner four (if we include the weird intermission-bubble championship during the pandemic shutdown). Curry stayed put and achieved four by working with whatever the Warriors could get.
Steph is widely praised for his unselfishness, off-ball movement, and joyful leadership, which foster a collaborative team environment. His style of play--constant motion, absurd deep-range shooting, and unparalleled gravity--stretches defenses to the breaking point and creates space and opportunities for others to thrive. He has made nearly all of his teammates better (this side of Kuminga and Oubre). LeBron has been the sun around which his teammates have revolved. They were expected to sacrifice scoring and usage to complement him.
I guess it comes down to what the beholder values most. I can't criticize anyone who picks LeBron as the greatest--the guy is a force--but in a team game, give me the guy who has been loyal to one franchise and made nearly all of his teammates better.
Yeah, that's fair. It all depends on the definition. One can also say "peak best is what matters" and then MJ has his case. Or all the things you say about Steph, including "Who revolutionized the game, left a lasting change," where Steph really destroys both of those guys.
LeBron has been an all-star for as long as Wembenyama has been alive. That said, Lebron plays the game to perfection, but he ended up playing Curry's game and who's to say that's not the real GOAT?
Also there's a lot more knowledge about extending careers these days, LeBron allegedly spends like 1-1.5 million a year on maintaining his body although he denies that. Bill Russell wasn't doing that.
I think comparing how much they dominated at their (extended) peaks is probably more translatable than comparing the longevity (and also that comparing stats across eras can get difficult and it should be more about how much you dominated your era). I remember hearing a joking discussion about how in baseball you have "compilers" who play a long time and get a bunch of stats which makes them look more impressive historically than they felt at the time, and I think it was actually a salient point.
Also yes, I do think Curry has a case for GOAT.
Yeah, that makes sense to me, although Lebron is a compiler in the sense of Hank Aaron imo. Part of their greatness derives from the clockwork near MVP-level production they were able to sustain across multiple decades, although I think Lebron also had a peak very few can compete with.
Along those lines, the LeBron stat that blows my mind the most is eight consecutive Finals appearances with three different teams. Bill Russell had 10 consecutive finals appearances, and that's the record, but all with the same team.
Russell also only needed to win 1 round to make the Finals for many of those (I believe playoffs became 3 rounds towards the end of his career)
Lakers extend Luka Doncic at bargain basement price.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/26969/luka-doncic
Isn’t it the max they can offer, tho? One of the benefits of the trade…
Good. One domino had fallen. JK extension incoming
Someone on GSoM just cited a report saying Kuminga had agreed to play in AfroBasket. Don’t have time to fact-check it, but if it’s true, it would definitely imply the terms of a deal (either with GS or S/T) are in place.
Tick, tick, tick…
Saw someone tweeted yesterday that JK has met up with the Congo national team but of course obscure news like that is usually from an unverified source so I didn't know if it was worth posting
Source is said to be one who follows Afrobàsket closely, and who WOJ follows.
Quiz time:
Who said this fake quote?
"NOW you get in shape? NOWWW????!!"
I can think of three possible choices ... we need at least one more sentence to be sure.
If the next sentence was:
"Smooth seas do not make a good sailor!"
or:
"If the earth isn't flat, how come I can walk to Australia?"
or:
"Who took away my seat next to the players?"
I'd have a reasonable idea.
The next sentence is:
"I wouldn't have traded you if you'd truly understood a year ago that you can eat the chicken without the skin."
I would think the next sentence would have been:
"We must be vewwy, vewwy quiet while we do this."
Kevin Durant after Harden was traded to the 76ers
That's one, but I'm thinking more contemporaneously
Russel Westbrook after Harden was traded to the Nets
From the #FuckCancer chronicles, former Dubs voice and studio host Greg Papa is in a battle of his own https://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/49ers-knbr-host-greg-papa-cancer-diagnosis-20798161.php
r/warriors
•
23 hr. ago
Parv21
[Songolo] “Jonathan Kuminga has arrived in Kinshasa and is expected to join Congo’s national team as they prepare for AfroBasket this month”
https://www.reddit.com/r/warriors/comments/1mf0ryh/songolo_jonathan_kuminga_has_arrived_in_kinshasa/
So what happens if he gets injured?
He goes to the doctor.
Seriously injured? He’d be fucked.
He's likely hoping to show out with Congo and showcase his improved skillset to vamp up his trade value.
Its risky business.
'Risky' is putting it mildly. JK's agent should be fired. Seriously. How is he looking after the young man's best interests?
I think it's not about showcasing his skillset. That's just not where you go if you want to be seen by the world, and by the NBA. For him, it's home, and I think that's why he's there.
I think he's likely not playing in the games unless he gets his situation sorted out, this is just him training with the team to be ready in case his situation does get sorted out in time.
That makes sense, but even scrimmaging has risks. Is he just doing shooting, layup lines and film sessions? 🤷🏼♂️
All NBA players are working out and scrimmaging over the summer, they can't just do nothing
I saw KG talking with Paul Pierce about off-season scrimmaging in a podcast a couple of weeks ago. KG said that one reason players get more injuries now is they do a lot of lifting but not enough stretching and especially not enough scrimmaging. They agreed that when they played in the league, everybody scrimmaged as much as possible during the off season, so they came into camp game-fit and ready to play, and they had fewer injuries, especially calf and ACL injuries.
That’s a risky strategy beyond the chance of getting hurt.
If he plays poorly, which is easy to do with a bunch of guys you don’t normally play with, he might hurt his value. If he plays well, it’s easy to write it off as doing well vs. inferior competition.
Or he’s gonna sign something before the tourney
I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt this. I've got no insider info--just reading the tea leaves of what we've been told so far.
Steph’s Best Plays of 2024-25: https://youtu.be/r7F9mql1L44?si=kTw5Z9EEUW2tbW5w (>1 hr)
It's always fun to watch Steph score and dish on offense. But I still think the single greatest play I've ever seen Steph make was his steal and subsequent layup in crunch time in the Olympic semis against Serbia. The USA was scrambling on defense and Steph dropped down to switch near the baseline, but then suddenly changed directions, raced back towards the FT line, picked off Bogdanovic's pass and took it the other way (with the help of a great seal by Booker). He knew how the play was going to turn out before it happened - probably knew Bogdanovic's tendencies and studied film of Serbia. To pull off a play like that, under the circumstances, shows Steph's all-around greatness.
A wonderful play! I did a video breakdown of that 4th quarter but the Olympics blocked me from sharing it on YT. I quietly posted it on substack at https://dubnationhq.com/p/explain-steph-curry-saves-usa-mens?utm_source=publication-search
Great breakdown. For those interested, the play starts at 10:41 of the video. Watching it again, it's clear that Steph leaves the man under the basket wide open for a dunk/layup because he's sure Bogdanovic is going to try to pass it out towards the arc, and the rest is history
OT: When they move WNBA games to an NBA arena they bring the WNBA team floor with the name of their home arena. So you're supposed to pretend they aren't playing at the Mavs arena.😆
Imma be honest with you all. Id rather take Devin Carter and a very lightly protected first than trade Chavano or Moody. I can be convinced on a Moody trade though IF we don’t treat it as part of a JK trade but rather as a matching salary to get a rotation veteran that will get minutes.
Yeah. Once I found out we’d be hard capped at the first apron for Monk without trading one of them I’m no longer on that train. Still holding out for Keon Ellis. They shouldn’t let him go but it is the Kings after all.
I would flip this around on the Kings. Would they take JK/Buddy/2026 FRP (top 10 protected) for Keon and Monk? Basically to them going from the deal offered now to the one I propose, it's the equivalent of two FRPs for Keon Ellis. Sounds like a ton, right? Given that it's still in the contenders phase for the Dubs, it's probably not that big a FRP. And then the one down the round which we don't view as valuable is flipped around. For trade rules, you probably have to include TJD so salary is slightly higher going out for the Dubs.
You then sign Horford, Melton, Boucher, and Lyles. Roster:
Steph/Monk
Keon/Podz/Melton/Richard
Jimmy/Moody/Gui
Dray/Boucher
Horford/Post/Lyles
It's obviously guard heavy and not perfect, but that's a very solid team.
I feel like there's a decent chance Melton signs elsewhere if the Warriors trade for Ellis
I think it would have to be Buddy. In a way. He is more replaceable. and Moody is giving up a lottery pick who is finally developed. From the win Now perspective, the Warriors would be giving up two lottery, picks for one player, and a future pick. Unless they have something very substantiatgey could turned up pick around for. It really doesn’t make sense. Neither Buddy ir moody can just be considered a throw in. Although it hasn’t been mentioned, I think they could do something else such as sign and trade Gary Payton, as part of the deal at a fairly high salary. And if there were a Taker for that, that would then solve the problem. (but i sysowct getting a Taker would have its own complications and ramifications.)
Not sure if Portland would go for this, but what about:
- Sac: JK (~22.5ish mil AAV? doesn't have to be exact I don't think)
- Miami: Monk, Thybulle
- Portland: Podz, Moody, (TJD or Gui), Kings protected 1st, Miami protected 1st, Warriors 2026 unprotected (or top-3 or something)
- Warriors: Camara, Rozier (lol, but needed to get a pick from Miami and match salary. Is on an expiring contract)
If JK somehow gets $26 mil AAV, Wiggs can be put in instead of Rozier, but then Miami might not want to send a pick.
The Warriors stay non-hard-capped, and it still gives us a bad but expiring contract to trade at the deadline.
Sign Horford, Seth, Melton, GPII, Richards, Cryer to regular contracts, and leave the last slot open. (Sadly, Mr. Plow can't be traded for 30ish days so we can't get him).
I'd rather have Derrick White than Camara, but the price would be much higher, and would probably hard-cap us.
I appreciate your presence here but I feel like you’re way off on this one
Kuminga/Podz/Moody/Santos and an unprotected pick in a strong draft for Camara and Rozier? How does that help the Warriors?
(IMO of course):
-JK is gone anyway (and the offers aren't super-great so far, although I have faith in MDJ)
- I like Moody, but I don't think he's a long-term starter, even post-Curry
- Podz is great, but I feel like Camara, who's already a really really good defender, could anchor a post-Dray defense for over a decade. Also Podz might want $30+ mil next offseason, when he's extension eligible.
- unlike a trade for White, no post-Curry picks involved
- Rozier sucks, and I'd hope that he'd ride the bench until we trade him at the deadline, but his contract could also be used like we hoped to use JK's. He's only in there to make the salaries work.
- we could use the money (with no apron cap) to bring back GPII, etc
Of course, 99% chance we just get most of what we want for JK from Sac and leave it at that and move on with signings. In MDJ we trust!
Giving up kumnga, several players , and a pick for one player we want?
We'd be better off letting JK walk for nothing (which we don't want to do) than making that deal.
I don’t think the FO is a fan of giving up Podz while potentially stuck with that Rozier contract past the deadline
Rosier is under federal investigation