The Golden State Warriors' pursuit of Paul George reportedly had the backing of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green before failing to secure a trade.
Tim Kawakami of The Athletic reported the two stars were "100 percent on board" with the Warriors pulling off a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Warriors brass reportedly believed they were near a trade before George opted out of the final year of his contract with the Clippers to explore unrestricted free agency.
Golden State had been prepared to sign George to a max contract extension, but any trade would have required him to opt in to his contract for 2024-25.
Curry and Green's enthusiasm regarding a George trade is a no-brainer given the Warriors now have little recourse to improve their roster this offseason. Chris Paul's $30 million salary fully guarantees at the start of free agency Sunday, and it seems highly unlikely the team will bring the future Hall of Famer back.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob has openly called for the team to duck under the luxury tax, and waiving Paul will ensure that happens. Guaranteeing Paul's deal would put Golden State about $4.6 million over the first tax apron. While it seems Lacob was willing to continue paying the tax if it meant adding another star-caliber player in George, there is no other obvious trade target.
The Warriors are also unable to add George via a sign-and-trade under the rules of the new CBA.
With Klay Thompson a virtual certainty to leave Golden State in free agency, the Warriors are now arguably at a crossroads as a franchise. Green and Curry alone are not enough to compete for a championship in their mid-30s. This is a team that failed to advance past the first Play-In Tournament game last season with Paul and Thompson on the roster; the Warriors are only going to be worse in 2024-25.
The prudent call may be to approach Curry and Green to ask whether they're willing to spend the final years of their career playing for a lottery team or would prefer a trade.
