What should the Warriors do during the offseason?

The Western Conference semi-finals were defeated by the Timberwolves, which is the final result delivered by the Golden State Warriors this season. This ups and downs 2024-25 season officially came to an end.

Looking back at the journey of this season, all players broke out in the early stage and rushed to the top of the league, and then suffered a wave of injuries. The record once fell outside the play-offs. Before the trading deadline, the management boldly sent Wiggins to the Heat in exchange for Butler, and then achieved an excellent record in the second half of the season, and even rushed back to fifth place in the division. In the regular season, it finally ended with seventh place in the division.

Entered the playoffs, butler and Curry teamed up to score 75 points, winning the first playoff game in the Warriors' history. Then, facing the Rockets Youth Army, the second in the division, Curry + Butler continued to explode, and successfully advanced to the second round after seven bloody battles against the Rockets; however, in the first game of the second round of the Western Conference series, Curry was injured and retreated early, and he missed the subsequent games.

Although the Warriors made great efforts to win the series, and even the temporary Kumingga also performed well, the team still struggled to fight back against their opponents in the future, and in the end the series was eliminated by the Timberwolves 1-4. After

was eliminated, the first mission belonging to the Warriors appeared: Kuminga's contract renewal.

Since the final match of the regular season against the Clippers, Kumingga was excluded from the rotation list. It was not until Curry retired in the second round of the Western Conference Semi-Finals that Kumingga was reused by Cole again. The young forward is about to face renewal this summer. Although he is a restricted free agent, the Warriors also have the right to follow up.

Just considering that Kumingga seems a bit inappropriate in coach Cole's eyes, and the Warriors have basically established a plan to rebuild the team with Curry + Butler, Kumingga's final stay or not naturally becomes a question of suspense.

First of all, Kumingga is currently subject to annual compensation clauses, and his salary in the trading market will be reduced by half. If he renews his contract at an annual salary of 30 million, he can only get a salary package of 15 million. In this case, whether you choose to sign first and then exchange or trade after the season starts, you need to find a team with poor salary space.

Considering that Kumingga has more or less proved that he can match veterans such as Butler and Green in the playoffs, there is this precedent. If he can renew his contract and stay in the team, he should still be of reference value in the new season. Even when there are many rotation options in the regular season, the young Kumingga will still be a very useful choice in the Warriors' existing lineup.

For the Warriors, under the premise that the current three giants Kuba is unlikely to catch up with the three, the 30 million salary required by Kumingga's team will indeed bring a lot of pressure to the team. Combined with the Warriors' second half of this season to the first round of the playoffs, the team still maintains certain competitiveness in the face of the situation without Kumingga. Under this prerequisite, the Warriors naturally may choose to turn Kumingga into a high-level player who can better improve the team's combat effectiveness.

Referring to previous media leaks, on the list of Kumingga's highest probability of future next-tier players, the Kings, Jazz and Nets are the top three teams. From this perspective, the Kings joined the discussion because of the potential Sabonis Jr. If we follow this idea, the Warriors have a better chance of getting it back, and the choice that meets the salary conditions is Monk; while the Jazz may have a double-season guard like Sexton and Clarkson; and the Nets are currently the next one with the greatest probability, and they have enough salary space to sign Kumingga naked.

If we look at the future development direction of Kumingga, they may also strive to renew Kumingga until the transaction deadline before considering subsequent trading operations. Judging from the current situation where the Warriors still retain the championship goal, they will inevitably consider the choice of asset maximization first. The second mission comes from the draft.

The team's first round pick this year fell to the Heat, so the Warriors' draft work is much simpler, with the Warriors holding the second round pick with the 41st pick. This ranking is basically based on role players, especially in terms of this year's draft year. In theory, it is difficult to choose players who can directly supplement the ranking.

Considering that Jackson Davis and Post are also in the second round inside, both of them are still young enough, the Warriors' choice targets should be mainly placed on dual-season guards or large wings, which is also the vacant position they need to strengthen this year.

The rookie list of double-energy guards, you can pay attention to Cam Jones, a guard from Marquette University, who prefers double-energy guards.

As a four-year freshman in college, Jones has accumulated a certain amount of game experience and has also received a lot of ball holding tasks at Marquette University this season. Although his ball holding skills are not mature and stable at present, his catch rate in the college season is still quite good, with a certain shooting level, and a strong enough body can also adapt to the end of the battle. This may be the right person the Warriors can consider at the moment. The player template given in the special reference draft is a high-quality puzzle like Divinchenzo, which should still have certain role-building value in the future.

If the main focus is on the large wing, then the focus can be on Alex Tuxi from Australia. The player template given by the draft media is Bogdanovic. It is an offensive person with certain shooting ability and can defend a certain size. He has rich enough game experience and even has a certain foundation for the tactical concepts of professional arena.

However, at present, the physical condition is not outstanding, and the quality of the peripheral three-point shooting still needs to be carefully polished. In the long run, as long as the development and development are properly developed, it should be a newcomer with good practicality in the large wing position.

The third task is in the free market.

In the playoff journey, the most direct problem that the Warriors emerged is that the shortcomings of the role players are too obvious. If the team still hopes to gain something next season, then they will definitely need to collect some salaries to trade more suitable puzzle players. Considering that the Warriors are likely to be able to use basic salary to strengthen the situation, the difficulty of completing this task should not be too low.

Excluding the range of two-way players, the Warriors will face the issue of renewal between Payton Jr. and Rooney this summer. Although the two currently play a very important role in the Warriors, the team still needs to consider the renewal value based on the two's total salary of 17 million yuan.

Rooney will be relatively simple. If the Warriors can get a starting center with a basic salary, then the Warriors' center can only rely on Jackson Davis and Post. Combined with these two people, they are still very experienced and rely entirely on them. The Warriors are still a little nervous when they appear.

Suppose the Warriors did not give up Kumingga for nothing, and there is a high probability that there will be only the mini middle class. If the Warriors do not consider buying out players in the free market this year, then the remaining high-powered inside options Adams and Horford will have 12 million and 9 million respectively this season.

Referring to the tactical value of these two people, it will be a little difficult for the Warriors to get it by relying solely on the mini middle class, but the Warriors should still work hard to fight for it; but once the struggle fails, the Warriors' best choice is to sign Rooney, who is familiar with the team system as much as possible, which is also a relatively reasonable alternative. In addition to the above two, they also have options such as Tray Lyles and Nance, but like Adams and Horford, it is not difficult to simply rely on the mini middle class. After the inside position, the rest is Peyton, and the Warriors should still stay at a relatively cheap price as an alternative to familiarizing themselves with the system and also have defensive capabilities at the middle and upper level of the league. This is still very important for the current Warriors. Just referring to the previous news, Payton's 9 million contract renewal price is still a little expensive, it depends on whether the Warriors management is willing to accept it.

The rest of the candidates, such as Prince of the Bucks and Trent Jr., are all good candidates. The former is a large 3D puzzle with body size value, while the latter is a good dual-energy guard. Both of them have three-point shooting percentages this season, which is quite a good level.

Prince should have the chance to win with a basic salary. As for Trent Jr., referring to his worth this season, it is likely that he needs to use the mini middle class. Among the same type of double-energy guards, there are also backup options such as Dinwiddie or Alex Burks who have worked with in the past.

Of course, there are still many restricted free agents in the market, or targets that can be traded. The above discussion is only based on personal expectations, and the final result still needs to be waited for the team's final operation.