The Golden State Warriors are staring at a breakup that once would have felt unthinkable, but for the Sacramento Kings, it’s not the kind of opening they should chase.
Golden State’s offseason has gone badly enough to leave the franchise looking like a shell of the team that ruled the league for years. The Warriors were built to win now, but they’re carrying an aging core and came up empty on every major free agent and trade they pursued. That’s a brutal place to be for a team that used to set the standard.
The peak was real. Golden State’s 2022 NBA Championship closed the book on one of the most dominant runs the league has seen in the late 2010s and early 2020s. The Warriors reached the NBA Finals five straight times and six times in eight seasons, winning four titles along the way.
Steve Kerr guided that stretch with a core centered on Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala, while Kevin Durant was also on the roster for a pair of those championships. But that group has been dismantled piece by piece, and the current version looks nothing like the machine that rolled through the league.
Thompson is gone to Dallas. Durant left to prove himself.
Iguodala retired. Kerr, Curry and Green stayed in place and later brought in Jimmy Butler in an effort to keep the window open, but that push didn’t go well.
Now Curry, Green and Butler are all set to hit unrestricted free agency after the 2026-2027 season.
This summer only reinforced how far the Warriors have fallen. They missed on a long list of stars, including Giannis Antetokunmpo and Jaylen Brown. They also missed out on LeBron James, who had been widely viewed as a lock for Golden State.
Instead, James signed with a loaded 76ers team alongside Brown. The reason was simple: even with James, the Warriors weren’t going to be a real contender, and he knew it. Golden State has also failed to build properly for what comes next, and the league understands that.
There are signs the front office is finally shifting toward development, but that creates another possible wrinkle. If Curry and Green don’t see a real commitment to staying competitive, they may pass on extensions and look elsewhere next offseason.
That’s where Sacramento needs to be careful. If the Warriors do move toward a full breakup, the Kings should not treat Curry, Butler or Green as the answer. Sacramento is in the middle of a rebuild built around youth, and all three Warriors are deep into the back end of their careers.
They’re accomplished players, no doubt. But they also come with major contracts and would need to accept steep pay cuts. For a Kings team trying to get its rebuild moving in the right direction, the priority has to be younger talent with an eye on the future, not veterans nearing the finish line.
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The Kings offseason has already started to tilt toward development, and Zach LaVine has become one of the clearest signs of that shift. Sacramento is weighing veteran moves as it tries to reshape the roster around younger players, and LaVines place in the plan has been a major part of those conversations. The discussions around his role have been described as candid, which usually means the front office is not treating this like a routine roster check-in.
LaVines future now sits at the center of a wider reset, with the possibility that he could move from a high-priced veteran piece to a much different kind of free agent. If that path opens, it would immediately put several contenders and hopefuls on alert, and it would also keep Sacramentos own plans in flux as it decides how aggressively to push the rebuild. For now, the important part is not where LaVine lands, but how far the Kings are willing to go in clearing the runway for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Still Have One Veteran Trade Problem They Cannot Ignore
The Kings have already made one clean veteran move this offseason, sending DeMar DeRozan out because his contract gave them an easier path. The rest of the expensive core is a different story. Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and Malik Monk are all expected to be back for the 2026-27 season, and Sacramentos front office is still stuck with the reality that big contracts are a lot harder to move than big names.
For now, the best path may be patience. Sabonis still has the kind of profile that could draw a far better return if he plays near his usual level and reminds teams how much he can tilt a game. Monk, meanwhile, may get a larger ball-handling role and a chance to show he can steady the second unit as a backup point guard. LaVine remains the trickiest piece, with his trade market looking the most uncertain as the Kings wait to see whether any of these veterans can raise their value before the deadline picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Daeqwon Plowden Is Stuck In Sacramentos Most Frustrating Roster Battle
Sacramentos roster math has left Daeqwon Plowden in an awkward spot. The Kings are thin at point guard, but crowded everywhere else in the backcourt, and Plowden is trying to carve out a role after signing his first standard NBA contract following several seasons in the G League. For a player finally getting a real foothold, the timing is tricky because the minutes he needs are tied up in a position group that already has more bodies than openings.
The shooting guard picture is where the squeeze really shows up, with Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, Nique Clifford, Emanuel Sharp, Adam Flagler and Plowden all in the mix. Plowdens challenge is not just making a good impression, but finding a lane in a rotation where the pecking order is already crowded and the Kings still have decisions to sort through as they shape the backcourt. [Read more 🡒]