The Warriors have four All-Stars, including two MVPs, a Defensive Player of the Year, and perhaps the two greatest shooters in NBA history. Golden State also has an excellent coach and other good players, including a Finals MVP, elsewhere on the roster. But is it enough? Is it ever enough?
The New York Times’ Marc Stein reports that the Warriors will call upon free agent DeAndre Jordan when free agency begins at midnight. Jordan is a three-time All-NBA center who opted out of a $24 million deal for 2018-19 on Friday. To sign with the Warriors, he would need to take the mid-level exception available to teams in the luxury tax, which starts at just over $5 million per year.
Needless to say, everyone would flip the heck out if the Warriors pulled this off.
The Warriors are already overpowered, as evident by their 16-1 run through the 2017 NBA playoffs and their 2018 dominance against every team but the Houston Rockets. Signing a player the caliber of Jordan — no longer an All-NBA type given the rise of other young pivots, but still really good — would eliminate the last hole in the Warriors’ lineup and give Steve Kerr even more options to use when the going (rarely) gets tough.
This past season, the Warriors got by with Jordan Bell, Zaza Pachulia, Kevon Looney, and JaVale McGee at center. Bell has promise but was a rookie. Looney is pretty adept. McGee can be shockingly effective in tiny spurts. But Jordan is so far beyond these guys as a consistent defensive force, rebounder, and rim-runner that it’d be a major upgrade.
(It’d also allow the Warriors to stop committing so many roster space to somewhat unreliable centers. Having a very good one cleans up the fear.)
Jordan, by the way, does have a history with the Warriors. He’s close to Kevin Durant and, as Stein reminds us, Warriors GM Bob Myers used to be Jordan’s agent. (Before the Dallas hostage situation.) Jordan also happens to have signed a contract with the Warriors once before: in 2011, at the end of the lockout, the center agreed to a 4-year, $43 million offer sheet with Golden State. The Clippers smartly matched within a day.
The Warriors, of course, went on to torture Jordan and the Clippers for years. If you can’t beat them ...
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