Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Wednesday, May 1st.
A notable shift is underway in the NBA as former postseason mainstays, such as Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, find themselves watching the playoffs from home while a new generation of stars contend for this year’s title. Because of this, speculation has emerged about these aging superstars potentially teaming up for one final championship push.
Among Golden State fans, there’s been keen interest, specifically, in the prospects of trading for James or even the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant. However, NBA insider Brian Windhorst poured cold water on this notion during a segment on ESPN’s Get Up, asserting that a James trade, whether to the Warriors or elsewhere, is nothing more than a fantasy. Windhorst specifically points to James’s hefty $50 million salary cap hit as a significant obstacle, making it challenging to facilitate any trade due to salary matching constraints.
For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Wednesday, May 1st:
"Before you enter Fantasyland, don't forget about the salary."
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 30, 2024
—@windhorstESPN doesn't see LeBron teaming up with Steph Curry in Golden State this offseason. pic.twitter.com/hN5b41oShZ
Great teams find some new part of themselves in those runaway four-on-three opportunities. If you trap Curry beyond the arc, for example, you invite the drive and lob from Draymond Green that are sure to follow. But not every Steph has a Draymond. Often, end-point shooters and cutters are forced to take control of the offense in those situations, replacing the wizardry of a System guard with something much clumsier. Even Steph has bumped up against the limits of what he can accomplish as one of the smallest players on the floor, and he’s the historical exception; over the past 20 years, Curry’s Warriors are the only team to even make the Finals playing a style defined by its lead guard.
One of James, Curry, Durant or Leonard was the best player on nine of the 10 NBA champions from 2011 to 2020 … and those four were so good that they also managed to represent the best player on eight of the 10 teams that lost the NBA Finals in that decade. That’s 20 conference champions, 17 of them fronted by one of these four. (Your exceptions being Dirk Nowitzki in 2011 and Jimmy Butler in 2020, while 2013 Leonard wasn’t quite yet what we’d see in the following Finals.)
Now, they can’t even scratch the second round, except for perhaps Leonard making it as an observer. You wonder if any of the four ever will again as leading men; things might only get worse given their age and team situations, with Curry and James facing second-tier status with the Warriors and Lakers in a crowded Western Conference, and the expensive, flawed and asset-mined Suns leaving Durant unlikely to contend until he returns to Oklahoma City. (Wait, am I allowed to say that out loud?)
Dunleavy now has to decide if it’s time to break up the best shooting backcourt in basketball history and move on from Klay Thompson, or if the two sides can come to a deal that makes sense for both in free agency. Dealt with a Big Three decision last offseason, his first as GM, Dunleavy brought Green back on a four-year, $100 million contract that made Curry a happy man. He also showed his willingness to stir the pot for any chance to make the Warriors better when he traded Jordan Poole for Chris Paul the morning of his first draft sitting at the head of the table.
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/3RJjeDDMqU
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 1, 2024
Tuesday night, with Philadelphia’s season seemingly over, Maxey not only made up for it — he somehow did something even more absurd.
Thanks to his seven points in the final 28.9 seconds of regulation — back-to-back 3-pointers, the first of which he was fouled on by Mitchell Robinson for a four-point play — the 76ers erased a six-point lead
inside the final 30 seconds and went on to claim a 112-106 overtime victory in Game 5, somehow sending this series back to Philadelphia with the Knicks up 3-2.
“What was going through my mind was trying to survive,” said Maxey, who had 46 points in 52 minutes. “Our season is on the line. I trust my work. I trust what I’ve done all my life, and I just tried to get to a spot, raise up and knock that shot down.”
Comcast’s NBCUniversal is prepared to pay an average of about $2.5 billion a year to air a package of National Basketball Association games, as rival Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 2.51% increase; green up pointing triangle) makes last-ditch efforts to keep those rights, say people familiar with the situation.
Pelicans executive David Griffin: “In the past, we’ve always erred on the side of continuity, and our takeaway has always been let’s see this group healthy. I think we’ve seen it enough. I think we had some really good opportunity to see Zion play a career-high in games. I think… pic.twitter.com/IXWiezC6yP
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) April 30, 2024
If the Warriors draft Bronny in the second round, or sign him as an undrafted free agent, it will cost less than if they use that roster spot on a veteran. And every dollar counts.
Bronny also fits the mold that Kerr so often covets. He has a sublime feel for the game and a high basketball IQ, traits that aren’t surprising for a player who grew up around the NBA, and with one of the smartest players in league history for a father (and, it’s worth noting, the Warriors have a roster full of sons of NBA
Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.
