Around the NBA, teams have been making moves in preparation for next season. Some have locked up their own players, like how the Oklahoma City Thunder re-signed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. Others have brought in new players, like the Milwaukee Bucks signing Myles Turner and the Denver Nuggets acquiring Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Jonas Valanciunas. Every team is doing something. Well, every team except one.
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The Golden State Warriors lost Kevon Looney to free agency, but they’re the only squad in the league that hasn’t signed or traded for anyone at all.
Steph Curry was asked about Golden State’s summer of inactivity at Curry Camp, his annual camp for elite prep players that is now in its 10th year of existence. Though he was surprised to hear that the Warriors were the only team not to make an offseason move, he still expressed confidence in where the team stood.
“It’s different for sure,” Steph said of the team’s current holding pattern, “but my confidence [in the team] is built on the identity that we were able to create over the last third of the regular season last year, the playoff journey. We have a really good team and we do know we need some pieces to get us to the next level.”
“The veteran presence we have — me, Jimmy [Butler], Draymond [Green] — we understand how to prepare through that uncertainty, and be able to hit the ground running in training camp knowing we should have some movement by then,” Steph noted.
No modern athlete has had such a healthy relationship with his franchise as Steph has had with the Warriors, so he’s just focused on his own preparation and not worried about what the front office will do.
“You control what you can control, and no matter how many new experiences you have, or whatever the differences of this offseason versus previous ones, you don’t let it affect your own personal preparation for this season, and then the conversations that we’re having on what we need to do to get ready,” he said.
Everything the Warriors are planning on doing or not doing this summer seems to hinge on Jonathan Kuminga. The team has extended him multiple offers, but seems unwilling to sign him to a long-term deal that’s to his liking. Other teams have expressed interest in the young forward, though they reportedly haven’t been able to meet the Warriors’ asking price.
Kuminga is the domino that will eventually make every other piece fall into place. Al Horford’s time in Boston appears to be over, and he’s been linked to Golden State as a possible veteran addition. De’Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II could also re-sign.
The sooner Golden State gets a resolution on the Kuminga situation, the sooner the Warriors can begin planning for next year. Right now it’s a standoff, but at the very least, the team knows it’s in a good spot with Steph, Jimmy and Draymond.
