The Warriors didn’t match Quinten Post’s three-year, $30 million offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies, and that decision already has a wrinkle attached to it before preseason even starts.
With Kristaps Porzingis dealing with an early health concern, Golden State may be forced to rethink its opening-night look against the Los Angeles Lakers next month if the veteran center isn’t ready. That’s where Post’s departure starts to sting. The Warriors had interest in keeping him as a third-string big and had already extended the qualifying offer that made him a restricted free agent.
Post wasn’t just a depth piece. Over his first two seasons, he showed enough to suggest he could grow into a useful rotation option if his 3-point shooting continued to pair with better defense. But his most immediate value might have come in a situation like this, when the Warriors need someone who can step into the middle and keep the offense looking familiar.
Steve Kerr would have had a clean answer in Post: plug in a seven-footer with experience in the starting lineup and preserve the same basic style, one floor-spacing big replacing another. Instead, Golden State has to improvise.
Al Horford is the closest thing to a like-for-like substitute, but the Warriors probably won’t be eager to hand the 40-year-old a starting job as he enters year 20. Draymond Green is another option at center, though that would leave Golden State without a traditional big man. Charles Bassey is also in the mix, but starting him alongside Green would raise spacing concerns.
The bigger issue may be continuity. An older, injury-prone roster means the Warriors will keep dealing with lineup shuffling, and that’s a problem they’ve already had to live with in recent years. The uncertainty around Porzingis only makes that tougher, especially with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody also unavailable early on.
Post could have offered at least a familiar stand-in. Instead, Memphis got the deal done, and Golden State is left searching for answers.
The first chance to see how Kerr handles it comes Sunday, when the Warriors open preseason against the L.A. Clippers in Hawaii.
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P.J. Carlesimo added a note of optimism around the group, pointing to the Warriors potential and Dunleavys chance to make a meaningful move when the season gets rolling. But the bigger issue hanging over all of it is whether the current core can stay healthy and productive enough to push Golden State into buyer territory by the trade deadline. Until that answer comes into focus, the Warriors are asking fans to believe that patience now could still turn into a real swing later. [Read more 🡒]