© Bill Streicher | 2019 Mar 2
The last two days have been an absolute whirlwind for the Golden State Warriors. They lost Kevin Durant, their two-time Finals MVP, to the Brooklyn Nets but landed D’Angelo Russell, a 23-year old All-Star, in return. They lost Andre Iguodala, another member of the vaunted “Hamptons 5” lineup, in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for cap space to make room for their new All-Star. They then signed Klay Thompson to a long term contract, and managed to bring back Kevon Looney for three more years. That’s a lot to process for the Warriors and their fans, but Marcus Thompson stopped by the Tolbert & Lund show on Monday to suggest that the Warriors might not be done making moves.
“I think they’re thinking about another star. So from what I was told, cause I was like: ‘Y’all paying the max? Why you giving him all that money? Jeez, like, you give five or eight dollars less you probably keep Looney,’” Thompson said. “But really the max slot, from what I was told, they wanted the max slot because having a max slot is how you gonna get a max player when it’s time to wheel and deal, you know what I’m saying?”
If the last three years are any evidence, the Golden State Warriors are not afraid to go big-game hunting.
“So now if Joel Embiid’s like ‘I want out of here. I love Steph, that’s my Under Armour buddy. I want to play with Steph and eat at International Smoke all day,’ now they have a piece that they could actually trade. Before, it was like: ‘yeah we love Embiid if he wants to come, but uh, we got Andre Iguodala and let me tell you about Jordan Bell, let me tell you he’s way better than what you think he is,’ like ‘let me tell you why Jacob Evans is an all-star,’” Thompson continued. “Now it’s like, you’ve got D’Angelo Russell, you got a $20-whatever…$27-28 million chip. Look, I just feel like if you can shoot and you’re young, people will want you and you will get a suitor. If he has any kind of good year, he’s definitely gonna be wanted, and they’re at least in the game.”
Of course there is some risk associated with a move like trading for Russell, but even if it doesn’t pay off, they still created the opportunity that they didn’t have before they landed him.
“If he doesn’t have a good year then Russell is gonna turn into like Terrance Ross and Jonathon Simmons, but even then you’re not getting any of those guys if you stand pat,” Thompson said. “You just gotta wait for Draymond’s contract to run out and you basically gotta get way under the cap which means making some tough decisions about a lot of the players you have.”
Listen to the full interview with Marcus Thompson below. To hear him discuss potential future moves from the Warriors and D’Angelo Russell, start from 11:10.