Not only did the Warriors retain Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston in free agency, but Kevin Durant took far less money than he could have, and so the defending champion Warriors return everybody and have room to add a ring chaser.
How is this possible? Well, Warriors hit on lottery picks in 2009 (Stephen Curry, 7th), 2011 (Klay Thompson), 2012 (Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green), got very good very quickly, and had the cap room to add Durant in 2016.
With three straight Finals appearances and two Championships, now they’re west positioned to overtake Michael Jordan’s Bulls as the best dynasty in the modern era. Not surprisingly, veteran role players want to get in on the fun! Nick Young wants to join the Warriors, but so does Jamal Crawford, the 37-year old Clippers guard.
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Both can get buckets off the bench. Both could play heavier minutes when the Warriors decide to rest Curry and Thompson for entire games during the regular season.
Also interesting: How come no ring chasers want to go to Cleveland and help LeBron try and win another title? It could simply be that ring chasers don’t believe the Cavs can overtake the Warriors. Or perhaps said ring chasers would prefer to live in the sunny (and expensive) Bay Area instead of Cleveland.
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Or, and we covered this with Jimmy Butler – have ring chasers back channelled to LeBron that they were interested … only to find out he’s not committed? That may have been the case with Chauncey Billups, too.
