Mike Dunleavy is less than a week from making his highest draft pick as the Warriors’ general manager, and he sat at the podium inside Chase Center on Wednesday with an admission.
“I don’t have a whole lot to say.”
That’s because he’s got a whole lot to do.
The Warriors are selecting 11th and 54th in the June 23-24 draft. They have just four players slated to enter training camp healthy. Draymond Green, Al Horford, and De’Anthony Melton have player options, Kristaps Porzingis is a pending free agent, and Steph Curry is extension-eligible at 38 later this summer.
Meanwhile, trade chatter around the league is ramping up ahead of the draft, with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee (opens in new tab) possibly ending and multiple teams trying to trade up or into the first round.
Dunleavy didn’t tip his hand as to how Golden State will approach transaction season, only that “everything is on the table.”
It has to be.
The Warriors are more than one move from contention. They might be a trade, a signing, an awesome pick, and a season with good health luck away. Dunleavy has his work cut out for him to even fill out the roster.
That job starts with the draft. The Warriors are likely to use their top pick in a loaded class, but Dunleavy left the possibility open to move up, down, or trade it for a veteran. He added that it’s important to be mindful of positional flexibility, noting that players limited to one position create roster construction challenges.
Players in the Warriors’ range who project to be able to defend multiple positions at a high level include Yaxel Lendeborg, Brayden Burries, and Morez Johnson Jr. Golden State has already worked out Lendeborg and Johnson, and is scheduled to bring in Burries on Thursday — along with Washington big Hannes Steinbach and Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr.
“Frankly we need everything,” Dunleavy said. “So we don’t need to be picky about this thing. I think we’ll take whoever we feel is the best player kind of for the next — this arc of their prime of their career that they will be coming into shortly.”
Anyone the Warriors select will play right away. Especially with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody expected to miss most if not all of the first half of the season, there will be minutes available.
That will be true regardless of how the returning Warriors’ summers play out. Dunleavy has been in touch with Green, Porzingis, and their representatives. Those situations are distinct.
Green has a $27.6 million player option. Declining it and extending at a lower annual number would give both the Warriors more flexibility and Green a better chance to fulfill his goal of finishing his career with the only franchise he’s played for. Green understands the dynamic, and called that specific option the “best path forward” on “The TK Show” in April. Wednesday, ESPN reported (opens in new tab) that the team is anticipating Green exercising his $27.6 million player option.
Porzingis is an unrestricted free agent, but the Warriors have his Bird Rights and can negotiate with him before the official negotiating window opens. He played 32 games last year and 42 the season prior. While his rim protection and outside shooting theoretically make him a terrific fit in Golden State, his availability is a concern within the context of the Warriors’ aging core.
“I do think it’s important that we don’t have the vast number of players who couldn’t play back-to-back,” coach Steve Kerr said on May 15. “We can’t do that again. It’s too hard to build continuity.”
Dunleavy’s to-do list also includes rookie contract extension talks with Brandin Podziemski and a possible extension with Curry, who becomes eligible in August.
Those tasks are fairly straightforward. What’s more out of Dunleavy’s control is whether Horford picks up his option, if a market materializes for Melton, and if a draft prospect Golden State has circled remains available to the team at No. 11. He also has no sway over how LeBron James’ discussions with the Los Angeles Lakers go, or what James’ personal preferences may be.
“We’re OK with [getting] older,” Dunleavy said. “Frankly, it’s not the best thing, but if it’s going to make us better, like significantly better, I think we have to look at that, because that’s really our thought process and job right now is to make this team better.”
The Warriors have to look at everything. Their position requires nimble, creative maneuvering, and lots of it.
Additional impressions from Dunleavy’s press conference…
• Dunleavy said that he thinks teams are valuing their 2026 draft picks more than normally do because of how talented the draft class is. AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson have crystallized as a top tier in some order, and there could be multiple other future All-Stars hiding in the rest of the lottery.
The GM also noted that the new draft lottery rules will make teams less willing to trade their future picks. Under the 3-2-1 system, the three worst teams would have the same exact odds at a top-nine pick as the ninth and 10th seeds. Being stuck in no-man’s-land will be more valuable than tanking.
That changes the calculus for every team, including the Warriors. In the past, the Warriors’ most valuable assets were their future picks pushed far out into the 2030s, because those years were presumably rebuilding seasons after Curry retires. Now, there’s a case that their more immediate future picks, when the Warriors are likely to continue in the play-in range, are more appealing.
“We’re kind of thinking through how we want to value our picks moving forward,” Dunleavy said. “I do think they have a lot of value based on our competitive tendencies. So I think we need to be careful about it.”
• The Warriors have generally been reluctant to mortgage their future by emptying their cupboard of first-round picks in major trades, though they did send one to Miami for Jimmy Butler.
The Warriors have acted pragmatically, but not passively. They’ve been willing to package picks for top talents in the past, and that won’t change now.
If Antetokounmpo is traded, the Warriors have the assets and future cap flexibility to get involved in a multi-team deal. Golden State has just $20 million committed for 2027-28 at the moment.
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