The Warriors had chances to swing big for Anthony Davis and Jaylen Brown, but in the end they stayed with their draft capital instead.
That decision came down to different concerns in each case, according to The Ringer’s Logan Murdock. On Davis, Murdock reported that a small group inside Golden State’s front office pushed for the move at summer league in Las Vegas, but the team’s higher-ups were swayed by “AD’s injury history and desire for a new extension” and decided to hold their ground.
Brown was a different conversation, but the result was the same. Murdock said the Warriors “couldn’t build an organizational consensus” that Brown was “the right player” to lead the franchise after Stephen Curry’s retirement.
ESPN’s Shams Charania recently reported that Brown could have been had for “four first-round picks-ish.”
There’s a real argument that paying that kind of price for Brown would have been too steep, especially if Jimmy Butler had to be included for salary-matching purposes. But there’s also a separate issue here: Golden State didn’t make any big win-now move at all.
That’s where the criticism starts to land. Passing on Davis and Brown for the reasons reported is understandable. Coming out of the offseason without a major upgrade is harder to defend.
The Warriors also may have felt the effects of that roster reality in other ways. We may never know exactly what LeBron James was thinking when he chose the 76ers over Golden State, but the quality of the Warriors’ roster had to be part of the equation.
And the front office still has ammunition. Golden State owns its next seven first-round picks, which gives it plenty of draft capital to chase help.
If the long game is to wait until the 2027 offseason and try to lure free agents, the Warriors will need a more appealing team to sell. A 39-year-old Curry alone probably won’t be enough if Nikola Jokic reaches free agency then. Put someone like Trey Murphy III next to Curry, though, and that pitch gets a lot stronger.
The same idea applies to other potential 2027 names such as Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Brandon Ingram. Add a player like Davis to give the Warriors a star center, and those wings would have a much better reason to consider Golden State.
In Other News...
Warriors Are Making A Risky Bet Curry Fans Already Fear
The Warriors have spent much of this offseason acting like a team with one eye on now and the other on a much bigger prize down the road. Rather than loading up on immediate roster help, they have kept additions limited while preserving room for the 2027 offseason, a window they clearly view as their best chance to reshape the franchise around Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.
The catch is that cap space only matters if the right stars actually hit the market, and that is far from a sure thing. Even if Golden State can keep its books clean, the likeliest payoff may not be a blockbuster chase at all but a more practical one, with the front office targeting the kind of depth pieces that can still move the needle without requiring a full-blown star hunt. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Missed Again And Now Steph Needs The Front Office To Nail This
The Warriors went into the offseason hoping to swing big, but the market has already pushed them back toward the more practical kind of roster work. With Stephen Curry and Draymond Green still at the center of the plan, Golden State now has to make the most of its remaining flexibility and find pieces that can fit around a core that is trying to stay competitive after a 37-45 finish.
NBA insider Brett Siegel said the front office still has room to maneuver, with open cap spots and a modest pool of money to spend before the apron becomes a real constraint. The names being discussed are more about fit than flash, and one of the more familiar possibilities is a return for Gary Payton II in a reserve role. For a team that just missed on its biggest swing, the pressure now is on the Warriors to get the smaller moves right. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious Over Jaylen Brown
Before the draft and again later in the season, Boston reportedly reached out to Golden State about Jaylen Brown, setting up the kind of star-level trade talk that can reshape a franchises direction in a hurry. The Celtics ask was enormous, centered on four first-round picks and a pick swap, and for the Warriors it would have meant parting with major draft capital, including the No. 11 pick that eventually became Lendeborg.
Golden State never got past the price tag, and the conversations never moved beyond the exploratory stage. Browns path took a very different turn after that, with Boston sending him to Philadelphia for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, a deal that later helped the 76ers land LeBron James. For Warriors fans, the frustrating part is obvious: the team had a chance to chase a premium wing, but the real question is whether the front office passed on the right player at the right time. [Read more 🡒]