Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Warrior chose to prioritize long-term financial flexibility over signing Quinten Post, a promising young player this week.
- The move keeps LeBron within reach, but only if another blockbuster trade materializes first.
- The team's odds of landing LeBron remain low, and their depth could suffer if an aging centerpiece struggles with health.
The Golden State Warriors have found themselves at the top of the news cycle over the last few days after the Memphis Grizzlies offered their homegrown big man, Quentin Post, a three-year, $30 million dollar deal to come play with them.
Of course, given Post's status as a restricted free agent, the Warriors have the right to match any offer that gets thrown his way. However, on Tuesday, they ultimately decided not to do that and let the 7-footer sign with the Grizzlies.
The Warriors did this in order to maintain their financial flexibility. More importantly, they want to still be able to offer LeBron James the mid-level exception in the hopes of gaining a leg up over teams that can only offer the future first ballot Hall of Famer a veteran minimum. However, it seems like they let an intriguing young player go to water a plant that could already be dead.
The Warriors lost Post, and still aren't frontrunners for LeBron
According to NBA Insider Shams Charania, the Warriors aren't the frontrunner to land James as of right now. Here is what he told Stephen A. Smith on the latter's radio show:
"I think LeBron's been open-minded, but the Warriors' whole plan going into free agency was, 'Okay, let's see if we can get Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis,'" Charania explained. "I think the big draw for LeBron with the Warriors would be seeing if there's an avenue to be a package deal with Davis. Short of that, I don't think the Warriors are high on his list, and I think the Warriors themselves believe they're not on that list unless they're able to trade for Anthony Davis."
It seems like James isn't sold on the Warriors' current core of Curry, Green, Jimmy Butler III (who is expected to miss the start of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL), Brandin Podziemski, Kristaps Porziņġis, and the recently-drafted, Yaxel Lendeborg. And that James was only really intrigued by joining them if they could swing a deal to add Anthony Davis (likely involving Butler's salary and some draft capital). Obviously, as of right now, said deal has yet to come about.
Oddsmakers seem to share Charania's sentiment. As of right now, DraftKings has the Warriors at +450 odds of being the team that James plays his first regular season minute for next season. That implied probability of 18.2% is the third-highest of any team, behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (-110, -52.4%) and the Miami Heat (+400, 20%).
Back to the Post of it all, there is a chance that the team could really use him this year. Yes, in theory, Porziņġis, who also just agreed to a new deal, is a better version of their player archetype (stretch fives with enough size to also protect the rim).
However, Porziņġis has been the antithesis of a healthy player over the last couple of years. Last season, he appeared in just 32 games, and Porziņġis has only crossed the 60 games played threshold once since 2018. Meanwhile, Post played in 67 games last season, and the only reason he only played in 42 games as a rookie is because it took him some time (being a late second rounder) to break into the rotation.
If Porziņġis somehow manages to stay healthy, none of this really matters, and the Warriors will be a better team with him on the floor than they ever were with Post. However, if he gets hurt, and the Warriors also strike out on James, the front office will be kicking themselves for this decision.
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