Many Warriors fans wanted Golden State (46-36) to shake things up before the Feb. 8 trade deadline during the 2023-24 NBA season.
The big move didn't materialize, and Golden State was under fire in the NBA Play-In Tournament against the Sacramento Kings, but in hindsight, the trade shouldn't have made things worse.
However, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy firmly believes it is best not to make any adjustments to the roster, and explained that process to reporters on Thursday.
“Given what I know now, there's nothing I should have done or gone through,” Dunleavy said. Frankly speaking, there were no fatal injuries this year. “Hey, Steph only played 40 games?” Something like that.
“We know exactly what this team was. It wasn't good enough, so there's no question about that. There's no 'what could have been' if we had moved by the deadline.” 'Well, maybe that wasn't the right move.' [or] “What would have happened if I had kept this person or that person?” Now that you have answered all these questions, you can move forward with clarity.
The Warriors made a huge trade last offseason, trading 12-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul and Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards. Golden State hasn't made a trade of that size since then.
According to ESPN's Zach Lowe, citing sources, the Warriors tried to make a trade for then-Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby before the deadline, but nothing happened. Ta.
Dunleavy hopes the Warriors have a better season. But he treasures the information he's been able to gather about the team throughout the year.
“But looking back, no, I'm happy with this team,” Dunleavy added. “We really put a lot of effort into it and put a lot of thought into it before the season started. I thought this team could play in multiple ways. Defensively, did we do those all year? No, it's important to be able to see that after the deadline. I thought.
“That's…the feedback we got from the players and the coaching staff. And frankly, we were 27-12 in the second half of the season. So we've been pretty good since the deadline. But we just couldn't bounce back from the beginning of the season. You might not like that you're so far behind.”
The Warriors looked like the right team to end the year, but as Dunleavy mentioned, the team didn't have enough power and dug themselves into too many holes early on.
And in Dunleavy's eyes, the right move was to do no more than trade Cory Joseph to the Indiana Pacers at the draft consideration deadline, and everyone's favorite cash consideration deadline.
However, the Warriors may need to make a move during the offseason.
In his second offseason as general manager, Dunleavy will likely be on the phone more than ever.
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