Warriors' Offseason Inaction Squanders Curry's Final Prime
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- Golden State Warriors are the only NBA team yet to add a player via trade or free agency this offseason, having only re-signed internal options: Kristaps Porziņģis ($40M over two years), 40-year-old Al Horford ($14M), and Draymond Green on a one-year, $27.7M deal after he opted out to create cap space for a LeBron James pursuit that never materialized.
- Stephen Curry, still a top-10 player at 38, has anchored a Warriors franchise that owner Joe Lacob bought for $450 million in 2010 and that is now valued at $11 billion — an appreciation the article attributes almost entirely to Curry.
- Joe Lacob and the Warriors have traded just four future first-round picks across 13 seasons (for Iguodala in 2013, the Durant sign-and-trade in 2019, Chris Paul in 2023, and Jimmy Butler in 2025), while repeatedly passing on trades for players like OG Anunoby, who went to the Knicks for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley with no first-round picks attached.
- Golden State's draft record under Lacob includes James Wiseman in 2020 over LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, and Tyrese Maxey; Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody over Trey Murphy III, Franz Wagner, Alperen Sengun, and Jalen Johnson in 2021; and Jacob Evans five picks before Jalen Brunson in 2018.
- The Warriors are projected to win fewer than 40 games next season, but have roughly $50 million on the books for 2026-27 — the most cap space in the league — as they plan around the post-Curry era rather than surrounding him with win-now talent.
- Draymond Green's return came at the same $27.7M he would have earned by opting into his existing contract, meaning the only financial flexibility his opt-out created went unused when James signed elsewhere.
Why it matters: With Curry at 38 and the Warriors projected below 40 wins, the franchise's choice to hoard draft picks and cap space for a 2026-27 offseason chase effectively concedes his final prime years — a trade-off worth roughly $10.5 billion in franchise value created by the very player Golden State is no longer building around.
