Smaller deals could prove pointless for Warriors after Markkanen dream shattered
In an outcome that had become widely inevitable over recent days, the Golden State Warriors hopes were effectively shattered on Tuesday with reported confirmation that Lauri Markkanen would renegotiate and extend his contract with the Utah Jazz.
According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, Anthony Slater and Tony Jones, Markkanen "isn't going anywhere" and will sign the new deal on Wednesday or beyond the ensure he is not eligible to be traded until next offseason at the earliest.
Aside from their Markkanen dream ending, the most interesting wrinkle for the Warriors is The Athletic's suggestion that the franchise "are expected to explore smaller-scale deals more actively than is typical in August and September", while they also confirmed that Golden State have little interest in former Alll-Stars Zach LaVine and Brandon Ingram.
Smaller-scale deals are unlikely to prove overly impactful for the Golden State Warriors who still desperately need more high-end talent
The term "smaller-scale deals" implies a deal for a role player of which the Warriors already have a glut of. They've signed De'Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield this offseason -- three very valuable signings but each who will likely fall between five and ten in the rotation.
Golden State have enough depth to cover for almost any injury issue outside Stephen Curry. Yet their failed pursuits of Paul George, and now Markkanen, still leaves them without distinct star-power that will make it difficult to be more than a Play-In team in an incredibly competitive Western Conference.
Should the franchise look at anyway they can upgrade their roster? Absolutely. Are there players out there that could help? Sure. Golden State could theoretically hold interest in a deal with the Brooklyn Nets and one of their veteran pieces like a Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith or Dennis Schroder. Bruce Brown in Toronto is on a slightly higher salary but could be gettable, while the Warriors have already been linked to Washington Wizards big man Jonas Valancuinas once he becomes extension eligible.
Golden State still have the flexibility, both with salary and future assets, to make most kinds of deals that may present. The issue is that rebuilding teams like the Nets, Wizards etc. aren't giving up their veteran players without something reasonable in return.
If the Warriors were to give up one first-round pick for a role player now, that's one less pick they have available when a star may become available. Even the expiring salaries of Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney become interesting pieces in all of this -- again, use them now in a deal for a different, slightly better role player, and you don't have those contracts which could be important to aggregate for a star on significant money later down the track.
This is where patience becomes important, but that's hard to do when you have a 36-year-old Curry, and when you have a fanbase growing in frustration after the hopes of landing George or Markkanen went down in flames.
Should the Warriors make this 'smaller-scale' deal as described, they simply must do it without compromising the potential of landing the sort of star-level, franchise-altering talent that will ultimately lift their chances of returning to title contention.