Ranking Warriors' Priorities for 2024 NBA Free Agency
The 2023-24 NBA season was one to forget for the Golden State Warriors.
They'll need a productive offseason to ensure the 2024-25 campaign doesn't play out the same.
While the trade market is their only path to a big-ticket item, they do have some work to do in free agency, both internally and externally. Let's dig into the top free-agency priorities facing this front office.
3. Bringing in a Big
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While the Warriors probably won't look to wiggle out of Kevon Looney's partially guaranteed $8 million salary, per Spotrac, they could consider using his contract as part of a major trade. And they almost certainly won't bring back Dario Šarić, who lost his rotation spot by the end of the season.
In other words, a frontcourt group that wasn't big to begin with could lose its tallest player and perhaps its strongest one.
Regardless what happens with Looney, Golden State seems likely to search out some kind of size this summer. The road to all championships in the near future figures to run through some of basketball's literally biggest stars, be that Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis or even Victor Wembanyama.
Even if the Warriors envision an expanded role for sophomore-to-be Trayce Jackson-Davis (they should), they should explore all options of getting bigger, bulkier and hopefully bouncier at the 5 spot.
2. Picking Up a Playmaker
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Chris Paul's first season in Golden State was a smashing success. Even as a diminished version of his former self (as a scorer and stopper), he still provided the best backup point guard play the Warriors had ever seen during the Stephen Curry era. In fact, Paul had nearly an identical net differential (plus-1.0 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com) as Curry (plus-1.3).
And yet, it still feels highly unlikely that Paul will get a second season with the Warriors. Beyond the fact his $30 million salary is entirely non-guaranteed, there's just the reality that it's hard to play him and Curry together. They might be advanced basketball thinkers, but they're still small, non-athletic guards on the wrong side of 35.
"You look at our team and we're pretty small," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "Even though [Paul is] one of our best players ... it's not the ideal roster for him."
The Warriors will almost certainly need a new backup playmaker, and the hope is they'll find someone competent enough to avoid the huge drop-offs they've typically seen when Curry needs a break.
1. Finding the Right Contract (and Role) for Klay Thompson
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Klay Thompson's free agency has been an uncomfortable talking point all season.
Last April, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski brought word of an "expectation" from Thompson that he would be "rewarded" with a maximum contract extension. In December, The Athletic's Shams Charania relayed that the Warriors put a two-year offer "in the range of $48 million" on the table before the season, which Thompson declined.
Clearly, there's some disagreement about his value, and now we're about to see whether that gap can be bridged.
Thompson's defense and scoring aren't what they once were, but he remains one of the league's best three-point shooters (268 threes on 38.7 percent shooting). He'll have (and apparently already has) suitors. If the Warriors don't make him a reasonable offer, he'll find one elsewhere.
Overpaying a bit wouldn't be the worst thing, since this payroll will be pricey with or without him. What might be more important than the money, though, is the minutes they plan on making available to him. He might be more of a spark plug than a nightly starter at this stage of his career, and Golden State should be careful about treating him as anything more than that.
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