Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Wednesday, April 24th.
Another lackluster season saw the Golden State Warriors fail to make the playoffs for the third time in five years. While their superstar point guard, Stephen Curry, continues to prove he’s capable of being the best player on a championship team, Golden State still lacks that secondary star to lessen his burden on a nightly basis.
For long stretches this season, it looked liked third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga was going to be that player for them averaging a career-high 16.1 points per game. However, in an interview with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed that Kuminga needs to improve as both a shooter and a shot creator in order to become that secondary star that the team desperately needs.
For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Wednesday, April 24th:
If another team will offer the Warriors a bounty of draft picks and prospects in exchange for Curry, thus jump-starting a necessary team overhaul, the Warriors should at least consider the offer, and present it to Curry.
Every move the Warriors made or considered over the past few seasons, every roster and playing-time decision, has been made with the intention of maximizing the Curry Window. It’s at least possible, though, that the only realistic championship window for Curry is with another team.
Well, the 21-year-old who took a major leap forward in Year 3 actually wasn’t eligible for voters to consider. It has been well known since last offseason that candidates for the league’s major awards have to appear in at least 65 games for eligibility, in hopes of big names not missing games solely for rest. Kuminga played 74 regular-season games.
However, a special caveat kept him off the ballot.
For a game to count towards those 65 games, a player must receive 20 minutes or more of action. Kuminga checked that box 61 times, four shy of MIP consideration. He fell 40 seconds short of 20 minutes once, and 27 seconds short another time. Kuminga played eight games where he was within two minutes of the 20-minute mark.
As poor as things went for Wiggins this season, the Warriors will do their best to remind other teams he was an All-Star and their best defender during their 2022 title run. That was a while ago, but he is only 29 years old, so his sagging stats shouldn’t necessarily be a sign of any age-related decline.
Maybe a change of scenery would help get him back on track. He doesn’t have much (if any) trade value on his own, but package him with promising prospect Trayce Jackson-Davis and a few future first-round picks, and Golden State might be onto something. Maybe that’s even the package that gets the Cleveland Cavaliers to cough up Jarrett Allen, who’s never been an easy fit with Evan Mobley.
Get Allen to Golden State, though, and he could be the anchor who gets the defense back on track and the automatic lob finisher who ups the potency of this attack.
THIS Trayce dunk in San Antonio is up for Dunk of the Year in #NBAfanfavorites
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) April 24, 2024
️ >> https://t.co/SO45zXl2WA pic.twitter.com/wnm725IONN
Kawhi Leonard’s return to the court was a bit of a mixed bag. The Clippers defended very, very well in Game 2. Leonard was a big part of that, though more as a team defender than in his traditional, isolation stopper role. The offense was where things got iffier. Leonard just didn’t look like he had his usual lift as he deals with the knee inflammation that had kept him out since March 31. Leonard missed all five of his 3-point attempts. He was closer to his usual self in mid-range, but ultimately just didn’t look healthy enough to create the kinds of shots the Clippers needed to win.
The emotion was evident in Gobert’s voice. He said his mother called him crying the previous night because she knew how much the honor meant to him. Gobert answered a couple of more questions, keeping his composure. Then he felt tears welling in his eyes.
“Sorry,” Gobert said, looking down. He bit his quivering lip and shook his head. He covered his face with his hand, turned away from the cameras and leaned against the fabric team backdrop before waving his hand and walking away, too upset to continue.
Video of the scene went viral, making Gobert a target. That included snarky tweets from two core members of the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty. Draymond Green, who had his streak of three straight All-Star appearances snapped, sarcastically wrote that he should also cry and punctuated the tweet with tear-faced emojis.
The 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Improved Player is... Tyrese Maxey!#NBAAwards | #KiaMIP | @Kia pic.twitter.com/to9oMhhYgI
— NBA (@NBA) April 23, 2024
I’ve heard from a lot of fans who think the Warriors should move on from Thompson and use the money on a different high-profile player.
They cannot do that. For better (if you want Klay back) or for worse (if you’ve proposed such an idea), the Warriors cannot do that. Not because the free agency market is lacking, though it is. Not because a one-and-done postseason flameout will dissuade free agents from considering them a top tier destination, though that’s possible.
Because they, quite literally, cannot do that.
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