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General manager Mike Dunleavy and controlling owner Joe Lacob have maintained a motivation to get a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo across the finish line and, as part of that, Green's name has been involved in the framework of available offers to the Milwaukee Bucks, league sources said.
The Warriors, according to multiple NBA sources, are indeed making a compelling pitch to add the Greek Freak, who has been a fantasy for years. Giannis might not have a bigger fan, outside his family, than Warriors CEO Joe Lacob. The Bucks, however, are in the power position. The Warriors are among as many as six teams, according to sources, showing sincere interest, with three or four – including Golden State – vigorously competing among each other. “The Bucks don’t have to do anything before the deadline,” one league source said Thursday. “Now it could get uncomfortable if they keep Giannis for the rest of the season when everybody knows he wants out. That’s an option if they don’t like what’s offered. “But any team that makes a deal with them will have to give up a lot. A whole lot.”
The Warriors, according to multiple NBA sources, are indeed making a compelling pitch to add the Greek Freak, who has been a fantasy for years. Giannis might not have a bigger fan, outside his family, than Warriors CEO Joe Lacob.
Chandler Parsons: Is there a world in which Stephen Curry is not possibly a Warrior? Does he ask out? Do they let him like decide to mutually let him go and shop around? Like, how does that situation find? Sam Amick: No, I don't see it. No shot. It's funny because it's like the question, A, is fair, but B, it gets asked outside of the Bay and outside of Northern California a whole lot more than it gets asked here. Because there's just an energy here where it's like, first of all, Steph has never sent any signals that he has any intention of anything other than finishing his career with the Warriors. He still has good relationships with Joe Lacob and Mike Dunleavy Jr and the staff. He still has a level of belief, I think, in them. I mean it's pro sports, so never say never.
League sources tell The Stein Line that Butler has received strong assurances from the Warriors that they want him back next season as soon as he is physically able. Butler, I'm told, has been urged by the team's key stakeholders to tune out any noise about Golden State trying to use his $57 million salary for next season in a trade that would import his replacement — to use Jimmy's own oft-cited metaphor — as Robin to Curry's Batman. My sense is that such a move, as aggressive as this franchise is known to be at owner Joe Lacob's urging, is not in the plans.
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Q, Mike, as you explore all the options and possible trade options, how much value are you placing on your draft picks, your future draft picks, and is it conceivable that could possibly be in play? Mike Dunleavy Jr: I think our picks always will and have been in play. You just, to give up our picks, it's got to be meaningful to get something back. And so for that reason, there's only so many players out there that probably warrant putting stuff like that on the table. But we're looking at everything. Joe Lacob is our owner, so you're always exploring all possibilities, willing to do any type of deal. And maybe stuff has changed a little bit with Jimmy Butler’s injury, but I'm not sure how much that affects our aggressiveness. We're going to have to kind of see on that.
You never know what might shake loose as the deadline nears, and it’s safe to assume that longtime owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy will get even more aggressive in their pursuit of roster upgrades. But team sources say the phones are simply not ringing for Kuminga’s services at this point.
Over these next three weeks, the saga that’s strangled the Warriors for years reaches a critical mass. The Warriors’ inconsistent play declares they need to make a move. Kuminga certainly wants out. The fans are clamoring for a trade. Kerr clearly doesn’t consider Kuminga a solution. Even Lacob, long one of Kuminga’s supporters, is down on the fifth-year forward, according to team sources.
Draymond Green on Warriors owner Joe Lacob: Joe is passionate as hell. You're either going to love his passion or you're going to hate it. Whether you love his passion or whether you hate it, the one thing you do know is the most important thing to Joe, and you will understand that at every step of the way, is winning. And if it's not working, if you're not winning, Joe has a problem. And if you're winning, it's fine. And you're rolling and he's rolling. If you're not winning, he is pissed. And that's just how Joe rolls. That's who he is. It's a large part of the reason this organization became winners because you’re run by a winner.
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Though his relationship with his long-time former teammates remains sturdy, his feelings toward management are still a bit cold. "[The Warriors' front office] got the outcome they wanted," another league source said.
Lacob himself, which Simon and SFGate confirmed through Warriors Senior Vice President of Communications Raymond Ridder, actually replied to the fan's email two minutes after Dutari sent it, and relayed his shared frustration while stating he was "working on it." “You can’t be as frustrated as me,” Lacob wrote. “I am working on it. It’s complicated. Style of play. Coaches desires regarding players. League trends. Jimmy is not the problem. Joe"
Mullin himself grabbed the mic and tried to quell the mob, insisting “it’s going to work out just fine.” The crowd was unmoved. Former Warriors legend Rick Barry, instead of lowering the temperature, castigated fans before adding that Lacob “is going to change this franchise.” Lacob still calls the March 19, 2012, affair the “worst day of my life.” Revisiting that scene now, the attention shifts from the embarrassment of almost 20,000 people booing him to an undeniable fact.