Strength in numbers is back: Golden State's solution to a missing third star

WITH JUST OVER seven minutes remaining against the Utah Jazz on Friday, Kyle Anderson lined up a wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key. As Anderson hoisted his shot, Draymond Green jumped off his seat on the bench and began hopping in anticipation.

Green, Stephen Curry and the Warriors’ bench erupted in celebration as Anderson’s shot bounced in.

On the other side of the floor, Lauri Markkanen launched a wide-open 3 from the wing seconds later only to see it bounce off the rim during a dreadful 4-for-17 shooting night.

Had Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. had his way in trade talks with Utah, perhaps Markkanen would’ve been celebrating with the Warriors, who were on their way to a 41-point win on the road at the Delta Center. Instead, Markkanen, hands on his hips and lips pursed, could only look on in frustration.

Dunleavy tried to find Curry and Green some championship reinforcements in the offseason by talking with the Jazz about Markkanen and with the LA Clippers about Paul George. The Warriors ideally would’ve loved to have both, but that would’ve been a long shot at best since both the Clippers and Jazz wanted their share of assets back.

Dunleavy wasn’t willing to give up Golden State’s young prospects and picks for one star unless it was a deal for a superstar talent who would immediately push the Warriors to the brink of a fifth title in 11 seasons.

George ended up opting out of his contract and signing a four-year, $212 million max deal with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency. And Markkanen, for his part, signed a five-year, $238 million renegotiated extension with the Jazz, waiting to sign it on the day that made him ineligible to be traded this season.

“That could have been trash, by the way,” Green told ESPN earlier this month. “Markkanen coming here, we don’t know. We have never seen it. So there was no thought of what could have been because we don’t know what that look like.”

Green lauds Dunleavy for staying patient and not surrendering the farm for either George or Markkanen. He and Curry have said they are excited to see what they can do with this new cast, currently sitting at 2-1 with a deep 12-man rotation.

That depth will be tested Tuesday, when the Warriors take on the New Orleans Pelicans (10 p.m. ET, TNT) without Curry (left ankle peroneal strain) and De’Anthony Melton (back), who are both out for at least the next two games.

“We’ve added really good players,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN earlier this month. “We didn’t go all-in and give away our future at a time where it doesn’t really make sense to do that. It makes sense to do that when you’ve got a chance to go after a franchise-changing player when you’re on the cusp of a championship.”

Through three games, Buddy Hield has looked like someone who can help fill the perimeter void left behind by Klay Thompson. The Warriors like Melton’s two-way skill set and Anderson’s smarts. And they believe those vets can mesh with young players like Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody, and complement Curry, Green and Andrew Wiggins.

“As long as we’re on the floor, we got a chance,” Green said of he and Curry. “Once you get in them playoffs, you watch [opposing] guys fold every day and forget to play basketball. You see that often.

“All we need is a chance.”

LATE IN THE first quarter of the Warriors’ preseason opener against the Clippers in Hawai’i, Podziemski suddenly found himself with the ball off a turnover and a fast-break opportunity.

The second-year Warriors guard was still steps away from the giant “H” logo at midcourt at the University of Hawai’i’s Stan Sheriff Center when he brought the ball back with two hands above and behind his head before unleashing a wicked bounce pass between two Clippers defenders to a streaking Gary Payton II for a fast-break dunk.

It might be just a preseason highlight. But the play is a glimpse of why the Warriors aren’t the only team high on the 6-foot-4 versatile guard drafted with the 19th pick out of Santa Clara last year.

The Jazz and Warriors had multiple discussions about Markkanen, but Golden State’s offers did not include Podziemski and were light on draft capital, both deal breakers for the Jazz, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.

Sliding the 7-foot Markkanen, who averaged 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 39.9% from 3 last season and also scored 35 points in the Jazz’s season opener, into Kerr’s offense seemed like a nice fit in theory. But the reality was the cost was too prohibitive for Golden State.

“Most people that negotiate with Danny Ainge lose,” Green told ESPN about the Jazz CEO. “So at what cost?”

The Warriors, like the Clippers and other big-spending luxury tax-paying teams, also had to prepare for the more punitive CBA rules and operate accordingly. At worst, the second apron would potentially cost teams access to the $5 million taxpayer midlevel exception, the ability to aggregate salaries in trades and even freeze first-round picks seven years out and move a first-round pick to the end of the first round.

“The most challenging part is we’ve got a great owner and there’s always a willingness to spend,” Dunleavy told ESPN earlier this month. “So we’ll figure out the CBA stuff. But it’s really just the timeline. You can’t get years back. You can’t make guys younger. And so to balance that and make moves to enable us to really be good and get over the top now is what’s challenging.”

The second apron is one of several reasons trade talks for George never truly materialized, league sources told ESPN.

Green said on his “Draymond Green Show” podcast earlier this summer that George wanted to join the Warriors, something that would have required the All-Star guard to opt into the final year of his deal worth $48.7 million and then be dealt in a trade. But Green said the Clippers weren’t willing to play ball with the Warriors.

“You go into free agency, [George] decided whether he wants to opt in or not,” Curry told reporters before camp started. “OK, we definitely should take that meeting and I was a part of that process.”

To Green’s surprise, because of the second apron, the Clippers weren’t interested in taking something back just to avoid losing George for nothing. Sending George to the Warriors to get players like Moody, expiring contracts and some draft capital also would have meant taking on a hefty contract like that of Wiggins, who has three years and $85 million left on a four-year, $109 million deal. That would’ve kept the Clippers from going after another young star in the future, according to team sources.

League sources also told ESPN that Kuminga’s name never seriously came up in talks of any significance between the Clippers and Warriors.

Should a trade for a star present itself before the deadline, the Warriors are expected to be in the mix. They have future first-round picks and swaps to deal, with just the 2030 top-20-protected first-round pick owed to Washington from the Jordan Poole deal. And they have Kuminga, Podziemski and Moody, along with the expiring contracts of Melton, Payton and Kevon Looney, among others.

“There’s a time to do that,” Kerr told ESPN. “We’re seeing teams around the league do that. But for us right now, unless it is one of those franchise-changing superstar players, imagine how reckless that could be. And Mike understands that and he’s handled it perfectly.”

In the meantime, the Warriors still have Curry, who signed a one-year, $62.6 million extension with the Warriors in late August and later reiterated his desire to remain a Warrior for life. While Curry has dealt with left ankle injuries before, he told Kerr on Sunday night that this latest one is “mild or moderate.” He is due to be reevaluated on Friday.

And they have Green, who at 34 is still a maestro with his passing and defense.

“Can’t panic,” Green told ESPN. “Panic in this league and you win 25 games for five straight years.”

THE IDEA OF George in a Warriors uniform is so off-putting to Ty Lue that the Clippers coach interrupts a question about it by blurting out, “Uh, uh.”

“I didn’t want to face that, no,” Lue said Sunday.

“You pair him [defensively] with Kuminga and Draymond, I wouldn’t want to see that. I’m glad that didn’t happen.”

Lue’s fear never came to fruition. Instead of finding one more star, the Warriors added several players who make this the deepest roster of the Kerr era, as well as well-regarded assistant coaches Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse.

Kerr has started Curry, Wiggins, Kuminga, Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis in the first three games. Hield, Podziemski, Melton, Looney, Moody, Payton and Anderson come off the bench. No player is averaging more than 26.3 minutes per night, and all 12 rotation players are averaging at least 12 minutes — though those numbers are skewed by a pair of blowouts to open the season.

Faced with his first competitive game of the season against the defensive-minded Clippers, Kerr played Anderson just four minutes and Green sat the final eight minutes as Looney helped lead a comeback that saw the Warriors cut a 13-point lead down to one.

Kerr will have to replace Curry’s 18.3 points, 40.7% 3-point shooting, 6.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game by committee as his ankle recovers.

Wiggins, who is listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game with a lower back strain, leads the team in scoring with 19.7 points per game while also being active on the glass with 6.7 rebounds per game. Hield struggled for the first time as a Warrior against the Clippers by shooting 3-for-14 but is averaging 19 points per game so far. Podziemski is looking at an increase in minutes in these next few games.

“Somebody texted me like, ‘Hey, 12 guys. It’s a real democracy,'” Kerr said after the loss to the Clippers. “I said, as soon as we lose, it’s going to be communism. So that’s the truth. The results dictate the judgment, and that’s the business we’re in. So I’ve got to do what I think is best for our team, and generally speaking, that changes throughout the year. We have to be ready to adapt.”

Dunleavy will be ready to adjust as well. He has remained in constant contact with Curry and Green and says they are on the same page about wanting to contend but also remaining patient and striking on the trade market when the time and price are right.

“The simple thing is we’re knocking on a lot of houses to try and buy them,” Dunleavy said. “And if there’s some sellers, if there are not some sellers, we’ll keep doing it. We’ll find something right.”

So far, Green and Curry like the moves Dunleavy has made — and the ones he didn’t make.

“In 2022, everybody thought the same thing,” Green said. “No one had us as a championship contender going into that year. We made no moves at the deadline and we won it.”