Things change fast enough in the NBA that Zach LaVine comes to San Francisco a most eligible basketball bachelor. Formerly mocked by the masses, eye-rolled into irrelevance after his trade demand in 2023 — including by some in the Warriors organization — he will be lusted after by Golden State fans.
No red balloons will be popped in Chase Center when the Chicago Bulls visit Thursday night. Because when the offense that once ran like a machine habitually stinks like a latrine, it changes the glow of LaVine.
The thirst is real for the Warriors, back under .500 after another blown lead Wednesday against Sacramento. LaVine has transformed from problem to answer, from antithetical to antidotal. The 6-foot-5 guard, who is averaging 24 points on 51.4 percent shooting — including 45 percent from 3 — represents a kind of a Rorschach test for Golden State’s current front office.
Who are the Warriors? Philosophically. Aspirationally. What type of franchise is this going to be?
In two weeks, we’ll have a good idea. The Feb. 6 trade deadline will be revelatory.
Since winning the championship in 2022, they’ve operated with patience and fear, with arrogance and resignation, with desperation and passivity. The perfect way to grow roots in mediocrity. Their current predicament, however, doesn’t allow for such fluidity.
LaVine isn’t a franchise savior. Not by any means. He can’t carry the Bulls to Eastern Conference relevance.
And he isn’t a typical Warriors player. Doesn’t check their usual boxes. He’s a defensively challenged, ball-dominant isolation player who, while exciting and explosive, dooms his own game with his shot selection and off-ball limitations. His injury history is a red flag. He played just 25 games last season, the third time in 10 seasons he failed to register 50 games. Plus his price tag is high with three years and a few sheckles shy of $138 million left on his contract.
But he’s still a good player. A really good player. Good enough to test the quality of the Warriors’ operation.
Can the same franchise that turned Andrew Wiggins from disappointment to winner not do something with LaVine?
Can the same franchise that pulled off a complicated Andre Iguodala trade, turned Kevin Durant’s departure into Wiggins, not figure out a way to get LaVine?
Or are the decision-makers as defeated as their team was in the second-half avalanche by the Kings on Wednesday? When they just continued chucking 3-pointers as their 17-point lead dwindled. When they settled for the prayers of Dennis Schröder and Buddy Hield while Steph Curry embraced the Kings’ plan to take the ball out of his hands.
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The Warriors started so well, playing hard and making 3s. Fourteen of them in the first half. But then they got cold from deep, 1-for-10 in the third quarter. Then their fragility took over. They play in these moments as if they anticipate the pending disaster. As if defeat is inevitable. That tone might be coming from on high.
LaVine may not be available. Chicago’s front office has been inexplicably holding onto the key pieces of an Eastern Conference play-in team. And the current price is at least a first-round pick. And other teams have better packages to offer.
Plus his $43 million salary must be matched. Normal trades allow them to be within 20 percent. But the Warriors are hard-capped so they can’t take back much more money than they receive. That means one of their big salaries would have to go.
They don’t want to trade Wiggins. Positionally, he’s the obvious choice. Wiggins is their blue ribbon of past creativity. The remnant of the Light Years Warriors. The gem they found who remains such an integral piece of their core. He’s the spear of their defense and the only one capable of dealing with the gauntlet of epic perimeter scorers in the West.
The other option is Draymond Green, the heart of the dynastic Warriors, whose salary also is big enough to anchor a LaVine deal. Prying him might mean losing Steph Curry — if not actually, then possibly spiritually.
But they’ve met these moments before and chosen to not do the hard thing. They’ve valued the bird in the hand, and the financial savings of that bird flying away, more than the two in the bush. The prime example was letting Chris Paul’s contract expire instead of trading him a year ago this time. Of course, they had him because they got off the Jordan Poole contract and the hovering mojo of his ruined relationship with Green.
They also let Klay Thompson walk away, taking his $43 million expiring contract with him. And now they’re faced with another $32 million of expiring contracts — the combined salaries of Schröder, Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney and Lindy Waters III — going away without producing future crops.
Is this going to be the perennial answer of the Warriors? That they’re permanently limited, perennially risk averse, hopelessly shackled by the difficulty of circumstance.
Zach LaVine may not be a cure-all for the Warriors, but whether they try for a big swing at the trade deadline or not will say a lot about the team’s identity. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Getting LaVine doesn’t solve all of their problems. But an inability or unwillingness to get him perhaps highlights some of them.
Where is the creativity? Where is the will? Where is the boldness? We will see if it’s there over these next two weeks.
The Warriors’ front office built a reputation on making moves, finding a way. It’s a modus operandi Golden State flaunted. They found Payton II in plain sight. They turned Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica into champions. They drafted and groomed Poole, who is averaging a career-high 21.4 points and shooting 40.2 percent from 3 for Washington.
Will that same spirit be alive on Feb. 7?
Or will it be an embrace of the current intimacy with ordinary? Will it be a waning resolve to compete, even for a very gettable postseason spot, and keep alive the Golden State standard of aggressiveness until the very end?
A reasonable response to their situation is to let it play out and pick up the pieces when it’s over. Collect a lottery pick in a loaded draft. It’s not to chase, but to accept the tradition of ends. It’s to be smart about resources and finances, and be viable in the future.
Reasonable doesn’t build championships though.
Sure, building through the draft is one way to do it. Not the only way. But if it were a certainty, their latest picks would have prevented this current situation. If the franchise has confidence it can let this thing dwindle into nothingness and rebuild with draft picks — though they’ve had five first-rounders in the last four years, three of them lottery picks — it should be capable of maneuvering right now to compete. Not win a title. Compete. Make the playoffs. Be a threat.
To be clear, the Warriors should be confident. They should believe they can make the playoffs this year with the right moves, go into the offseason and make more moves, with whatever draft picks remain. They should believe they can be all in right now, maximizing their precious time left with Curry, and still believe they’ll be fine in three years with however many picks they have. Win now, as much as you can, and worry about the future in the future. Driven by a certitude they will figure it out later because they figured it out right now.
That’s who the Warriors were. We’ll know in two weeks if they’re still those Warriors. Whether they land LaVine or not.
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(Top photo of Zach LaVine and Stephen Curry: Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
