The Warriors Might Actually Try To Make A Move For Paul George Next Year


The Warriors are loaded and can stay that way for a long time to come thanks to the incredible timing of when all of their current stars’ contracts come up — and the kindness of Kevin Durant to take a massive pay cut. Steph Curry was the first to ink his max deal this off-season, with Durant expected to land one next summer, and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to follow in 2019 and 2020.

It’s an expensive plan, one that would cost well over $1 billion, but one that’s doable under the CBA. However, while the Warriors would seem to be set as far as signing stars for the next few years, that doesn’t stop those who cover the team closely from speculating about what they’ll do next summer.

The big free agent prize of 2018 will be Paul George. His desire to go to the Lakers is known, but his current team, the Thunder, and others with max space figure to try and convince him not to go back home in 2018. According to Tim Kawakami and Marcus Thompson, two long-time members of the Warriors beat, the organization could actually make a push for George over the next year. Kawakami discussed the possibility on the Posting Up podcast from The Washington Post, as transcribed by NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk.

Marcus and I have teased this for more than a year. We think they’re going to go after Paul George, somehow. I think Joe Lacob is going to try to find a way to get Paul George. I don’t know how that would happen, but I didn’t know how it was going to happen when they were – three years ago, when they said they were go after Durant. Well, they didn’t say it. But they might have whispered it.

It’s not a sourced rumor, but more of a gut feeling from a pair of guys who know that team very well. However, it certainly makes for interesting fodder and a fun exercise to figure out exactly how they could do it.

The least likely scenario involves the Warriors signing George outright in free agency. As Dan Feldman at PBT notes, the Warriors would have to strip their roster almost entirely and have a massive cap jump in order to give George the max — and they’d have to convince Durant to take an even more significant pay cut or lose him entirely. Swapping George in for Durant is not an improvement for Golden State, so we can assume that won’t be happening.

However, the other two options would be a sign-and-trade in the summer or a trade at the deadline. A sign-and-trade still creates some cap problems for the Warriors, and would again almost assuredly force either George or Durant to make some concessions on salary. Considering how much Durant gave up this summer, it’s hard to imagine him being willing to do that again next summer when it’s supposed to be his time to get paid.

That leaves a trade at the deadline as the most likely scenario for the Warriors to actually have a shot at George for the long term, and even that seems highly unlikely. The Thunder, for one, are expected to be competing for a strong playoff seed next season, so there’d be little incentive to deal George at the deadline. The pressure to compete will be even stronger should Russell Westbrook let his contract extension sit on the table through the deadline.

As for what the Warriors could offer OKC to entice them to flip George to the Bay, beyond their four stars, there’s not much there to reach George’s value. Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and Jordan Bell are the three best assets Golden State has on multi-year contracts outside the Core Four, and their draft picks sure aren’t going to be very intriguing in the near future. There were reports that the Warriors refused to deal Klay Thompson to the Pacers for George, so there’s no reason to assume he would be available at the deadline, and he would be considered the most expendable of the Warriors four best players.

What Joe Lacob and Bob Myers have done in building this Warriors roster has been incredible, but this might be putting a little bit too much faith in their abilities. It’s not completely impossible, but it would essentially require the Thunder to hand Golden State another star, which seems very doubtful.

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