Warriors overcome slow start to win NBA offseason

The Golden State Warriors were something of a laughing stock this offseason. A week into the free agency frenzy, graphics started to float through social media, showing all the transactions each NBA team had made. The Warriors were the lone team with no names or faces next to their logo.

A month later, that was still true. Two months later and, remarkably, it was still true.

It wasn’t until Monday, 91 days after the start of free agency and 99 days since the NBA Finals concluded, that the Warriors made their first moves, re-signing Gary Payton II while giving second-round pick Will Richard a standard contract.

Suddenly, the roster is complete. Al Horford and De’Anthony Melton’s commitments to the Dubs were made official, and Jonathan Kuminga’s contract stalemate was finally resolved. Pat Spencer was re-signed to a two-way contract, and Seth Curry was brought in on an Exhibit 9 deal, which will allow him to be waived and re-signed on November 15, filling out the full roster.

It’s a good thing that games are played in October, not in July, because while the Warriors roster was looking paltry over the summer, it’s now looking fairly dynamic. Horford and Melton are, by my count, the two free agents who are the best fit and talent for how the Warriors play (ignoring players who are outside of their budget). Re-signing Payton is huge for a team that still intends to win with defense, and the younger Curry is the exact type of player and personality that teams covet to fill out the final spots on their rosters and locker rooms.

And then, of course, there’s Kuminga. The Warriors won the stare-down, with a deal that they have to be utterly thrilled about. While Kuminga’s camp threatened to take the Qualifying Offer, and insisted they wouldn’t accept a deal unless it was a multi-year contract with a player option, they instead folded, and accepted a two-year, $48.5 million contract with a team option and without a no-trade clause, which will essentially serve as a one-year deal. As a result, Golden State gets Kuminga’s talents for the year, and if the two parties can make things work well this season, they can re-negotiate next summer, when the Dubs will still have Kuminga’s Bird rights. And, if things aren’t working perfectly, he now has a high-figure contract that can be used to match salaries at the trade deadline, the same way that Andrew Wiggins’ contract facilitated the Jimmy Butler III trade.

In all, the Warriors went from a nonexistent offseason to a spectacular one in the span of 48 hours. The roster is exceedingly deep, a good mix of veteran talent and exciting young players, and chock-full with players who fit the system. And with training camp now underway, the Warriors suddenly find themselves having had one of the best offseasons in the NBA.