Mike Dunleavy Jr. got a very different reception than the Warriors players when he showed up at Chase Center for the Golden State Valkyries’ game against the Dallas Wings on Monday.
Stephen Curry, Gary Payton II, Will Richard and Moses Moody were all in the building, and the crowd let them know it with loud cheers during a second-quarter timeout. Dunleavy, the Warriors’ general manager, was part of that group on the jumbotron too - and this time the reaction turned into boos.
Warriors fans have been frustrated with the way the offseason has unfolded, and that mood was on display when Dunleavy appeared on the big screen. Golden State is the only NBA team that has not added a player through free agency or trade this summer.
The biggest move on the ledger has been the selection of Yaxel Lendeborg with the No. 11 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Lendeborg was named Championship game MVP at the Las Vegas Summer League, which at least gives Dunleavy some credit on the evaluation front.
Since taking over as general manager in 2023, Dunleavy has also helped bring in Will Richard, Quinten Post and Brandin Podziemski. Richard and Post were second-round picks, while Podziemski went No. 19 in 2023. Podziemski isn’t exactly a beloved figure in the fan base, but he has outperformed what’s usually expected from a player taken in that slot.
Still, that hasn’t been enough to quiet the criticism. The Warriors came up empty on every major target they were tied to this offseason, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
There is also the larger question of how much control Dunleavy really had over the most aggressive possible moves. There has been talk about owner Joe Lacob wanting to build the post-Stephen Curry version of the team, and Lacob reportedly wants to see what the organization can do without Curry. That would suggest he may not be eager to make the kind of win-now swing that could cause problems later.
Lacob has said the Warriors made two major trade offers over the last six months and claimed the team would part with multiple draft picks if the right deal came along. Brown was reportedly available to Golden State for four first-round picks, but the Warriors passed on it.
For now, the result is a roster that looks a lot like the one that went 37-45 last season and missed the playoffs. Golden State did reach the play-in tournament, but it was knocked out after losing to the Phoenix Suns in its second game.
Injuries were a major part of that slide. Curry played only 43 games, and Jimmy Butler missed the second half of the season after tearing his ACL in January. With both healthy, the Warriors might have made a different kind of run.
The hope now is straightforward: Curry stays healthy in 2026-27, and Butler can give the team real production after a long layoff. Even so, there’s a real chance this version of the Warriors won’t even get back to the play-in in 2027.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, had no such trouble on Monday. Their 78-70 win over Dallas pushed them to 25-9, clinched a playoff spot and locked them into the No. 2 seed. For them, the night was all upward momentum.
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Pooles regression made that shift easier to justify, but it also underscored how little room the Warriors have created for error with so many expensive contracts already on the books. Pauls arrival helped as a roster move and as a trade asset, yet the bigger question hanging over the organization is whether this is a one-off adjustment or the start of a harder, messier transition away from the dynastys most familiar shape. [Read more 🡒]