Mike Dunleavy sizes up OKC Thunder, explains draft philosophy as Warriors enter NBA offseason
SAN FRANCISCO – Mike Dunleavy, while in the thick of his third offseason as the Warriors’ general manager, carefully watched Oklahoma City defeat Indiana in a classic seven-game championship series on Sunday.
The stars who hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy that Dunleavy’s Warriors are pursuing were fresh-faced, with 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander flanked by Jalen Williams (24), Chet Holmgren (23) and a host of other Gen Z players.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are set to bring back the decorated but concretely millennial trio of Steph Curry (37), Jimmy Butler (35) and Draymond Green (35).
At a press conference on Monday at Chase Center, Dunleavy said that finding a way for his aging team of late-30 somethings to compete with OKC’s youthful roster of newly-crowned champs is a top priority, and that he is confident his team’s grizzled core can do just that.
“I think you’ve got to run your own race,” Dunleavy said. “In our case we’ve got three players in their 30s that are really good, and that’s the hand we’re playing.”
While OKC has become a juggernaut, Dunleavy said history shows that it’s not easy to stay at the top.
“They’ll be the team that we’ve got to knock off for sure,” Dunleavy said. “The good news is, though, there’s been an incredible amount of parity the last six, seven years, multiple different champions, multiple different finalists.”
With the NBA Draft starting on Wednesday, a decision yet to be made on the enigmatic Jonathan Kuminga and a salary cap to be navigated, the Warriors will have several chances to make moves.
Barring a trade back into the first round, they won’t have a pick until Round 2 (No. 41 overall) on Thursday night.
Though second-round picks are often considered afterthoughts, Dunleavy said his team will not approach Thursday with that mindset.
The Warriors have scooped up rotation front-court players Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis in each of the past two second rounds, and Green was the 35th pick in 2012.
That said, Dunleavy made it clear that finding an immediate contributor late in the draft is still a long shot.
“I also think you have to be mindful just in general when you’re picking in the second round and the later you go, you’re almost just trying to pick somebody that’s going to make it, so you have to be a little careful about being too particular,” Dunleavy said.
The Thunder were not the only team that caught Dunleavy’s eye over the past week. He watched other teams orchestrate headline-making trades.
The Grizzlies shipped high-scoring wing Desmond Bane to Orlando for two starting guards and four first-round draft picks, and Houston sent Warriors nemesis Dillon Brooks and NorCal native Jalen Green, plus a lottery pick, for Kevin Durant.
Is there pressure for Golden State to make a similar blockbuster? Not necessarily.
“It’s just almost impossible for us to add players in the salary range of guys we were looking at last summer since we’ve added Jimmy,” Dunleavy said. “That would be the only limiter. But in terms of finding talent, improving this team, we’re going to look under every rock to try and do that.”
There is no arguing that the Warriors proved that their current core can be formidable. They were one of the NBA’s hottest teams after the Butler trade and eliminated second-seeded Houston in seven games before falling 4-1 to Minnesota after Steph Curry was lost to a hamstring injury in Game 1.
Pushing past the second round will hinge on building a stronger supporting cast around Curry and the other veterans, and that will start with the draft.
“I feel really good about our roster,” Dunleavy said. “If you look at guys 10 to 14, 10 to 15, that’s part of having depth. I think we can get better in the middle. I think we can get better and add some depth there, and then we’re really talking.”