The Golden State Warriors took a hit this week when LeBron James opted to not head to the Bay Area, a hope that had seemed to be fading even before the final news was delivered. Now, the team is coming back in 2026-27 with much the same roster, and questions about whether they’re stuck in mediocrity as superstar Stephen Curry heads into the end of his current contract, with his tenure in Golden State perhaps coming to an end soon, too.
There has been much consternation about whether the Warriors have done enough to support Curry here at the end of his career, whether they should have been more aggressive about dealing off their three tradeable first-round picks to bring in another superstar and lure James to the team.
That consternation turned to fury this weekend when longtime Bay Area reporter Tim Kawakami appeared on “The TK Show” podcast on 95.7 The Game and suggested owner Joe Lacob was already thinking beyond Curry.
Warriors Mindful of Life After Stephen Curry
Kawakami was talking about the possibility of Lacob selling the Warriors–he is not planning on that–once Curry retires and noted that Lacob would be re-energized once Curry departs.
He said: “Lacob wants to—and this might get Warriors fans mad—he wants to build the next team after Steph Curry. I don’t know how possible that is. But Lacob has a keen interest in, ‘I am going to show, or this organization is going to show what it can do with Steph Curry and then after Steph Curry.’”
Now, across social media, that was taken out of context and twisted into the notion that Lacob won’t make trades of future draft picks because he is just waiting for Curry to retire, which is not true and also not what Kawakami said.
Warriors Made a Push for Star Trades
In fact, the Warriors have been willing to trade their draft picks this offseason, if they had the right star player to bring in. They do have the expiring contract of Jimmy Butler on the books, worth $54 million, but Butler is rehabbing from a torn ACL, and was thus of little use to Boston in a Jaylen Brown deal, the Clippers in a Kawhi Leonard deal or the Wizards in an Anthony Davis deal.
The Warriors had interest in Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he did not want to play on the West coast. It’s wrong to say that Golden State refused to trade future picks–there just were no deals on the table to make those moves. It’s still July, and that could change.
‘It’s the Stephen Curry End Run’
The Warriors are in a tough place with the end of the run for Curry. He is expensive, even at 38, and that hinders the team’s flexibility. They’ve shown some promise–they might have reached the West finals two years ago if Curry had not gotten injured–but the conference belongs to the Spurs and Thunder these days. They’re not contenders, and the best they can do at this point is just compete for the playoffs.
Said Kawakami: “It’s the Stephen Curry end run. That puts pressure on a team. In some ways, they have come up short. In some ways they’ve just done what is inevitable, they’re trying their best to work off this last year, two years, they have Steph and also not destroy themselves for the future.”
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