SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Golden State Warriors head into the offseason following a second-round playoff exit having already made their biggest move to boost the roster for 2025-26.
A midseason trade for Jimmy Butler sparked a late-season surge that carried the Warriors on a successful run that came to an abrupt end after star Stephen Curry's injured hamstring led to four straight losses to Minnesota.
The hope for Golden State now is that a full season with Butler alongside Curry and Draymond Green will give coach Steve Kerr the core he needs to compete in the ultra-tough Western Conference.
“I think we made a big jump adding Jimmy Butler,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said Friday. “This time last year I was probably concerned about our ability to have like a No. 2 guy. We went out this year, we got that, and now I feel better going into next season having a guy like Jimmy on our roster. ... I just overall feel like we’re in much better shape right now than we were a year ago. We’ll keep chipping away at this thing. As long as Steph, Draymond, Steve as well as our coach, as long as they’ve still got their fastball, we’re going to keep pursuing titles.”
The addition of Butler from Miami made an immediate impact for the Warriors. They were 25-26 when he made his debut in February and the team posted a 27-8 record overall in the regular season, play-in tournament and playoffs when both Butler and Curry were in the lineup.
That had the Warriors believing they could make another title run before Curry went down with a hamstring injury in a Game 1 win against the Timberwolves.
Golden State then lost the next four games and couldn't extend the series long enough for Curry to return as the team lacked enough options on offense without its best player.
“He’s our sun. This is the solar system, he’s our sun. You’re not going to duplicate Steph any time soon,” Kerr said. “So any talk of do we need to change our offensive system, to me is kind of laughable. ... It’s like what we’ve done has been incredibly powerful. Steph is, again, one of the all time greatest players, playing at the peak of his power still, I think, or very close to it. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. Anything else would be a disservice to our team.”
The big questions this offseason are filling out the roster around the big three stars with the biggest unknown being the status of Jonathan Kuminga.
Kuminga had a promising start to the season before being sidelined by an ankle injury for 31 games. The team added Butler during his absence and Kuminga struggled to fit in when he returned and played only sparingly — if at all — in the playoffs before Curry got hurt.
Kuminga averaged 24.3 points in the final four games, showing the ability that could make him an attractive target for other teams when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer.
The Warriors have the right to match any offer sheet he signs but could opt to seek a sign and trade and use Kuminga as a chip to fill other holes with players who fit in better with Curry, Butler and Green. Kerr described Kuminga's situation late in the season as “square peg, round hole.”
“All in all, he’s a guy who’s got a lot of talent and a lot of ability,” Kerr said. “Still growing, still raw in many ways, but a lot of what we have to figure out is roster construction and the combination. Basketball is always a five-man game, and combinations were tricky. They just were.”
The other major need for the Warriors is adding more shooters to space the floor and more size throughout the lineup both to be better against bigger perimeter players and to have a bigger defensive presence that allows Green to play power forward rather than center like he did late in the season.
“I don’t want to start next season with Draymond as our starting 5,” Kerr said. “I think it’s doable for the last 30 games like we did this year, but you see the toll it takes on him. He’s talked about it too.”
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Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
