The Golden State Warriors reportedly offered four first-round picks for Giannis Antetokounmpo at the February trade deadline and were turned away. Then Jimmy Butler tore his ACL, ended his season early, and the team that was supposed to be retooling missed the playoffs entirely, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the play-in game. The window that the franchise has been carefully managing around its franchise player is no longer a theoretical concern. It is closing in real time. And according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the man at the center of it all has made clear to those around him that coasting is not an option.
“They’re going to be pulling out all the stops to do something,” Amick said. “The desperation meter, it’s the Lakers and Warriors in the same neighbourhood right now. They know that Steph (Curry), as mild-mannered as he is and as chill as he is, he’s not happy not being in contention. He’s not going to be okay just coasting down the back end of his career. So whether it’s LeBron, whether it’s Giannis, whether it’s Kawhi, they’re going to be making all of the phone calls.” The picture Amick painted was of a franchise that has received a private but unmistakable message from its superstar and is now prepared to pursue anyone, regardless of feasibility.
Stephen Curry himself put the stakes in starker terms than he typically allows publicly. According to Danny Emerson of the San Francisco Standard, he drew a direct parallel to the scenario he is trying to avoid: “You don’t want to be in a situation the Lakers were in those last three years with Kobe. I know he came off the Achilles injury, but… they were a lottery team, and it was more just how many points can Kobe score down the stretch of his career. I don’t want to be in that scenario.” For a player who has won four championships and spent his career redefining what a point guard can be, the Kobe comparison is the clearest possible way to communicate urgency, not about statistics, but about relevance.
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The Warriors’ front office has not been subtle about sharing that urgency internally. According to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard, Golden State still believes it can add a superstar-level player to pair with Curry this offseason, with LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard specifically named as targets, and Steve Kerr re-signed specifically because the front office anticipates a significant acquisition in the coming months.
The Package Problem That Won’t Go Away
The distance between Golden State’s ambitions and its assets remains the central obstacle. The Warriors offered four first-round picks at the deadline and were rebuffed. What has changed since then is that their 2033 first-rounder is now tradable, and their 2026 lottery pick, 11th, has added value, making a combination of a current lottery pick plus four future selections and multiple swaps a more compelling offer in a flattened lottery environment.
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The Warriors have also been linked to Kawhi Leonard as a secondary target, a scenario that would require Draymond Green opting in to his $27.7 million player option to make the financial math work with the Clippers. And lurking behind all of it is the LeBron question, Amick noting that if Golden State were to land Giannis, LeBron might follow, with Cleveland and Golden State the two destinations league sources associate with James if he leaves Los Angeles.
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Stephen Curry’s point about the Kobe years was not an accident. He is 38 years old, still averaging 26.6 points per game on 39.3 percent from three this season, a man fully aware that the clock on his championship window is now measured in offseasons rather than years.
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