標籤: Dubs

According to NBA insider Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, when the LA Clippers traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, there were two teams in particular who reportedly jumped to inquire about Kawhi Leonard’s availability. According to ESPN’s Anthony Slater and Ramona Shelburne, it was revealed on Friday that one of the teams interested in a potential Kawhi Leonard trade with the Clippers was the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors’ original trade deadline targets were believed to be Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaren Jackson Jr. His interest in Kawhi Leonard was ignited after the Clippers trades, which seemingly signaled a reset. When none of those potential deals came to fruition, the Warriors turned to their backup plan which was the Kristaps Porzingis trade.

Leonard is entering the final year of his contract with the Clippers, which is worth approximately $50.3 million. Siegel suggests he may once again attract trade interest from opposing teams. This could be a similar situation to when the Toronto Raptors traded for Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs. Leonard was in the final year of his deal at the time, and ultimately left the franchise in free agency after only one season. But it was still a success for the Raptors because it got them a championship.

Despite injury problems the past few seasons, Leonard has been relatively healthy this year and has been among the NBA’s top players. He has appeared in 47 games at a rate of just over 32 minutes per game. He averaged career-highs of 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals while splitting 49.7 percent shooting from the field, 37.9 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 90.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

The Golden State Warriors suffered a 114-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night, an area that is hurting the team as they remain without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler. While the Warriors wait for Curry’s injury to heal, the team is trying to somewhat keep the ship afloat, but they face another dilemma as it involves Draymond Green.

The non-Green minutes on Monday night were crucial for Los Angeles to come back strongly and take control of the game in the final 17 minutes of the game. Without Green’s defensive ability to keep players like Kawhi Leonard and others in check, the Clippers outscored Golden State 53-30 in a span of nearly 17 minutes.

However, the dilemma is Green’s minutes, as he turns 36 on Wednesday, his minutes are now subject to monitoring. He’s averaging 26.7 minutes per game as he played 31 minutes on Monday, marking the 11th time he’s scored more than 31 in 50 games this season.

Warriors’ Steve Kerr on Draymond Green’s minutes

The problem is compounded by the Warriors not having Curry, the team now has to figure out how to compensate in this area, although it goes without saying how important Green is.

“He’s still one of the great defenders in the league,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said, according to NBC Sports Bay Area. “And they set the tone in that first half, and we were able to keep the lead for most of the third quarter. But they took the lead late in the third quarter, and got it down to two going into the fourth.”

“But we had to take him out. He can’t play the whole game. And he played 31 minutes, which is a lot for him at this level,” Kerr added.

During that aforementioned stretch, the Warriors lost their 16-point lead and trailed by 17 points in the final frame. At any rate, Golden State looks to bounce back with its next game on Thursday night against the Houston Rockets.

If there was any hope that the understaffed, dysfunctional Golden State Warriors could regain some momentum after their disappointing win over the Denver Nuggets, it came crashing down in the bayou.

The Warriors lost badly to the New Orleans Pelicans, 113–109. Although the close score indicated a highly contested, competitive affair, it spoke more about the Dubs’ weak offensive performance in the first quarter, in which they made only 8 of 25 shots, which they ultimately could not overcome.

And while Moses Moody continued his consistent play with 24 points and five rebounds, and De’Anthony Melton exploded for 28 points in just 28 minutes, Pelicans star Zion Williamson proved unstoppable in the end with a team-high 26 points on 11 of 21 shooting. After the game, Steve Kerr evaluated the Dubs’ tremendous performance.

Kerr said, “I don’t know what ‘Down the Stretch’ got us. It was all 48 minutes.” “21 turnovers. We didn’t execute very well offensively. The spacing was bad. Transition, we had three potential layups in the first half. We didn’t run, we didn’t cut to the rim, we didn’t get to the corners. We just looked disjointed.”

The Warriors felt frustrated all night as bad basketball troubled them up and down the hardwood. Midway through the third quarter, the broadcast showed a heated exchange between Quinton Post and Brandin Podziemski as the two walked toward the bench, with Draymond Green having to step in between the two to stop things from escalating.

And while the Warriors had a chance to steal this game from the jaws of their poor play, unsurprisingly the aggression died down, and they couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves.

Offense remains a problem without their stars

It’s no surprise that the Warriors’ offense has struggled with consistency lately. With Stephen Curry in a day-to-day funk due to his swollen runner’s knee, Jimmy Butler out for the season, and Kristaps Porzingis suffering from a nasty, undisclosed illness, Golden State lacks an on-ball creator or engine to center the offense.

Kerr has talked about the need for a “trigger” for the defense to struggle in the post, i.e., Curry’s snapping or Butler drawing double teams. But without him, they don’t have what it takes to lead a drought like the one they suffered against the Pelicans.

And sure, Melton can get penetration, and Moody can run around a screen off-ball, but in 48 minutes of play, they need more. What they did against Denver is certainly at the extreme end of what’s possible when everything is humming. But ultimately, an outing of sorts is required to keep everything running smoothly. That means no messy transitions, no missed opportunities.

For this, good movement of the ball and hitting open shots is required. And the Warriors didn’t do it in New Orleans.

“The game was perfect for us, we just couldn’t perform well enough,” Kerr said. “With the injuries we’ve had, we have to play well to win. And I don’t think we played well tonight.”

Resting Al Horford on the front end of the back-to-back certainly didn’t help, and they’ll bring him back against the Memphis Grizzlies. But help will not come soon. Curry’s re-evaluation won’t come until the end of the week, and knowing his tendency to lean conservative upon returns from injury, there will likely be a ramp-up process before he returns. Meanwhile, Porzingis may have the Warriors’ worst fear confirmed with this latest health scare.

The Dubs will look to bounce back with a game at Memphis in less than 24 hours.

Other notables

• To add insult to injury for the Dubs, Jonathan Kuminga looked quite comfortable in his Atlanta Hawks debut. 25 points, 7 rebounds on 9/12 FGs against the tanking Washington Wizards. It’s only one game, and against a bad team at that, but the Kuminga era in Atlanta is off to a good start.
• Porzingis did not make the trip south, ruling him out for Memphis. It is unknown what specifically caused his illness. He has a history of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which the Warriors were aware of when they traded for him, but the Warriors have not confirmed if this ongoing illness has anything to do with it. Kerr said the condition was so severe Sunday that Porzingis was unable to leave his hotel room.
• NBC Sports Bay Area has begun adding live graphics to its broadcasts. There are things like a gray circle hovering below who has the ball, names popping up whenever someone gets the ball, and a distance counter whenever someone shoots from deep. Looks like NBA 2K and it’s driving many viewers (including me) forward.

Following the NBA trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors had an open two-way contract roster spot after Pat Spencer’s contract was converted to a standard deal. According to Jake Fisher of The Stein Line, after the All-Star break, the Warriors made a move to fill that roster spot by signing Nate Williams to a two-way contract.

The signing of Nate Williams now brings the Warriors’ roster to 14 standard deals and three two-way contracts. Under a two-way contract, Williams is limited in the amount of games he can be active for, but with the Warriors only having 27 games remaining in the regular season, he is in no danger of using them up. However, Williams would miss the playoffs.

After spending training camp with the Los Angeles Lakers, Williams was playing with the Long Island Nets, an affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets in the G League this season. He appeared in 35 games, a rate of approximately 34 minutes per game. He was averaging 18.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals with splits of 47.2 percent shooting from the field, 36.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 80 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft, Williams got his NBA debut when he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers at the end of the 2022–23 season. This was his best performance to date, averaging a career-best 10.6 points and shooting 61.5 percent from the field in five games. He spent the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons with the Houston Rockets.

Following the All-Star break, the Warriors will resume play on Thursday, February 19 against the Boston Celtics. They are currently 29–26 and in eighth place in the Western Conference standings. Buoyed by the addition of Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline, the Warriors will look to make a move during the final months of the regular season.