The Warriors’ offseason has already left plenty of fans frustrated, but the Quinten Post loss might be the one that stings the most. Golden State never landed LeBron James, and the roster now looks a lot like a stripped-down version of last season’s group. The team still hasn’t brought in an outside free agent, while Draymond Green was extended and De’Anthony Melton, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Gary Payton II were re-signed.
Then came the part that really bit: Post signing a three-year, $30 million offer sheet with the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis also built incentives into the deal that would have pushed Golden State above the first apron, even if Green had accepted a pay-cut. On the latest episode of the Game Theory podcast, Sam Vecenie pointed to that as the clearest example of what the Warriors gave up by waiting on the James pursuit.
"Not only did you lose on LeBron- you lost on Quinten Post. You lost LeBron and also lost a good, valuable player who I think projects as a good backup center long-term...
I just don't see it with this work right now." Sam Vecenie, The Game Theory Podcast
Vecenie’s criticism lands, but the Warriors were boxed in once that kind of offer sheet hit the table. Keeping Post at that price would have been a tough sell under any circumstances.
Post did give Golden State something real when he first arrived. At 7 feet with shooting range, he looked like a clean fit next to Stephen Curry and brought real intrigue early on.
But the cracks showed quickly. His defense wasn’t where it needed to be, and his slow feet plus limited rebounding made him harder to trust with Steve Kerr.
He improved defensively in his second season, but his drop-off from three didn’t help his case.
Even setting the James chase aside, the numbers and roster construction made this a hard no for Golden State. Paying Post $10 million a year for three seasons, or going over the first apron just to keep him, was too steep. The Warriors are built around Horford and Porzingis handling the center spot in the short term, and Charles Bassey’s addition on a $2.5 million annual salary gives them the physicality and rebounding they need beside those two.
The financial picture got tighter after the Green extension and Payton signing, leaving Golden State with a little more than $5 million between it and the second apron. The Warriors are projected to be hard-capped there if they use either the bi-annual exception or the mid-level exception on Melton, and that reality makes it hard to see how they could have kept both Green at $27.7 million and Post at $10 million.
Green taking less to make room for James is one thing. Doing it for Post is another matter entirely. Maybe the last piece of Melton’s salary could have opened a door, but the bottom line stays the same: as painful as it is, Golden State was right to let Post walk.
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Lendeborg backed up the decision quickly in summer league, where he was named MVP and helped lead the Warriors to the championship. Oklahoma Citys Aday Mara, taken one spot later, flashed a few encouraging signs, but the early returns have tilted clearly toward Golden State, which at least for now seems to have found a clean win in a draft process that could matter well beyond July. [Read more 🡒]
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The next checkpoint matters, though, because it will help frame just how soon Golden State can realistically count on him again. If the rehab keeps trending in the right direction, Moody should remain part of the conversation for the Warriors when he returns, which gives the team at least one encouraging internal storyline to monitor as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Face One Trade Dilemma In Pursuit Of Bench Scoring
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Even so, the path to a deal does not look simple. League chatter has centered on the idea of using draft capital to make it happen, but the Warriors have been cautious about moving future picks, especially for a player whose contract situation adds another layer of complexity. Between the price in assets and the extension questions that come with it, this is the sort of trade idea that sounds helpful for a bench that needs scoring, yet still feels unlikely to become real unless the market shifts. [Read more 🡒]