The Golden State Warriors seem to be a mess right now and nothing exposes their lack of direction this offseason more than the move to bring veteran center Al Horford back on a two-year contract.
This is nothing against Horford who remains a valuable role player two decades into his career. But on on one hand you've got reports that the Warriors are focusing on the future, yet on the other you've got them re-signing a 40-year-old on a multi-year deal. That's a juxtaposition that epitomizes where Golden State are at right now...no-man's land.
Al Horford move exposes Warriors' obvious lack of direction
There were no real reports of Horford considering heading to a rival team after just one year with the Warriors, but few would have blamed him if he did after a season in which the franchise failed to make the playoffs.
Horford not only remained with Golden State, but signed a two-year, $14 million (second-year player option) contract which, combined with Steve Kerr's return on his own two-year deal, offered hope that the front office was ready to prioritize the short-term window with major moves in free agency and/or sacrificing future picks on the trade market.
Instead, the Warriors missed out on landing LeBron James and now, according to insider Tim Kawakami, they're focused on the post-Curry era which naturally won't include Horford or Kerr.
"What (Joe) Lacob wants to do, and this might get Warriors fans mad. He wants to build the next team after Steph Curry," Kawakami said on his podcast. "I don't know how possible that is, but Lacob has a very keen interest in... this organization's going to show what it can do with Steph Curry and then after Steph Curry."
Warriors are conflicted with their current roster strategy
From the moment Golden State entered a two-timelines approach over half a decade ago, they've tried to have their cake and eat it too. What's that left is, outside a monumental championship in 2022, is an incredibly middling team usually stuck in the Play-In Tournament.
If the Warriors were intent on building a post-Curry team as Kawakami reports, why re-sign Horford when you could have let him walk and brought back another floor-spacing center in Quinten Post who is nearly 15 years younger?
Golden State are trying to go in two different directions at once, and as a result are caught in a middle state of mediocrity. They're neither improving the team for the short-term, nor taking a step back to prioritize the post-Curry era if that's their wish. They're acting confused and it's leading to a failure to attract rival players, causing them to re-sign their own like Horford even when it doesn't make total sense.
Add us as a preferred source on Google