The Warriors had a shot at Jaylen Brown, and they passed for a reason that says plenty about where they think this franchise is headed.
According to Logan Murdock of The Ringer, Golden State seriously explored a deal for Brown before the February trade deadline, but the front office never got on the same page about whether he was the right player to carry the team beyond Stephen Curry.
“The Warriors had an opportunity to trade for the former Celtic before the deadline in February, but couldn’t build an organizational consensus that Brown would be the right player to carry the Warriors beyond the Curry era.”
That hesitation mattered, because Brown was one of the biggest names on the market and the Warriors were firmly in the mix. Earlier reporting had the Celtics asking for a package built around three or four first-round picks, with Jimmy Butler also discussed in the framework. Golden State ultimately decided the price was too steep, and even with a stronger package available later, it still didn’t push forward.
Now the bigger takeaway is that the draft compensation may not have been the only issue. The latest report suggests the Warriors simply didn’t see Brown as the franchise cornerstone they’d need once Curry is gone.
That’s a striking call when you look at what Brown just did. The five-time All-Star put together the best season of his career, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field and 34.7% from three-point range. He also picked up a second All-NBA Second Team nod and spent much of the year in the MVP conversation.
At 29, Brown fits a lot of the boxes Golden State has been chasing. Still, the Warriors chose flexibility and future assets over making that swing. And that choice may have had ripple effects they didn’t fully anticipate.
Reports said LeBron James’ eventual decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers was heavily influenced by Brown landing there first. If Golden State had finished the trade three months earlier, or even gone through with it this time around, the pitch to James might have looked different.
Instead, Brown ended up in Philadelphia, and LeBron followed.
Golden State, meanwhile, came away empty. That has been the story of its offseason. The Warriors have chased every superstar available and still haven’t landed one.
With Draymond Green back on a one-year deal, the expectation is that the Warriors will mostly bring last season’s roster back. That group went 37-45, finished as the 10th seed and was bounced in the play-in tournament. In a loaded Western Conference, simply running it back with an injury-prone core doesn’t look like enough.
So the Brown decision looms large. If he helps the Sixers win a championship right away, the Warriors will be left staring at the move they didn’t make.
And it leaves a bigger question hanging over the franchise: if Golden State didn’t believe a 29-year-old All-NBA wing coming off a near-29-point-per-game season could lead the next chapter, who exactly are they waiting for?
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The expectation now is less about chasing a full 82-game grind and more about getting him through training camp in late September and into the stretch that matters most. Philadelphia knows the season will likely be measured by what Embiid can give it in the playoffs, and while there is still a long runway before then, this is the kind of early signal the team and its fans were waiting to hear. [Read more 🡒]