Just one year after falling short of winning a third straight NBA championship at the 2019 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors have officially ended their 2019-20 campaign. With a league-worst 15-50 record, the Warriors are one of eight teams that will not be seeing action when the NBA returns in July. That also means the organization is now free to plan ahead for the 2020-21 season, and as a new report suggests, a number of experienced players are interested in moving to the Bay Area when this year’s free-agency period kicks off.
On Tuesday, The Athletic ‘s Shams Charania appeared on Complex ‘s Load Management podcast and discussed the Warriors’ outlook for the upcoming 2020-21 campaign, which should see Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson return to the active roster fully recovered from their respective injuries. As quoted by NBC Sports Bay Area , Charania pointed out that there are already “some veteran free agents” who are considering the Warriors as an option in the 2020 offseason.
“They’re looking at them gearing up and loading back up. You have Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green back healthy. Now you’ve got [Andrew] Wiggins. They need a center, they need another maybe wing or guard coming off the bench, but other than that, this team is going to be geared up and loaded to go.”
The NBA announced today that eight teams, including the Golden State Warriors, have concluded their 2019-20 season: pic.twitter.com/dTAhjZ3SbI
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) June 4, 2020
Commenting on what the new rumors mean for the Warriors, NBC Sports Bay Area wrote that the negative financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic could leave several NBA teams with a lack of salary-cap space to spend on prospective free agents. This could force these players to settle for a less lucrative contract than what they would normally expect.
As the Warriors weren’t expected to have a lot of cap space before the league suspended operations in March due to the pandemic, the outlet speculated that the current circumstances could potentially “work in [the team’s] favor” when it comes to signing proven veterans in free agency. Also mentioned as a potential selling point was the Warriors’ proven postseason success with Steve Kerr as head coach and a healthy Curry, Thompson, and Green in the same lineup.
Although Charania did not mention any specific players who could sign with the Warriors in the offseason, several veterans have been brought up in previous reports as possible free-agent targets. These include big men Aron Baynes (Phoenix Suns), Marc Gasol (Toronto Raptors), and Paul Millsap (Denver Nuggets), and wing players Marvin Williams (Milwaukee Bucks) and Trevor Ariza (Portland Trail Blazers).
