The Golden State Warriors have more star players than they know what to do with, and yet it appears owner Joe Lacob is always looking at the next step.
Ever since the Warriors signed Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016, the rest of the NBA (other than the Houston Rockets) has collectively thrown up its hands and conceded the Larry O’Brien Trophy will continue to reside in the Bay Area until the superfriends — Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — break up and release their grip on the league.
That might start with Durant, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent this summer. Many believe the 30-year-old star will take his talents to New York to try and breathe some life into a Knicks franchise that has been a corpse for the better part of two decades, leaving the Warriors with a hole in their vaunted starting lineup.
While the Warriors are focused on trying to keep Durant in the Bay Area, if he elects to leave it appears the Dubs have their eye on another star player who has great chemistry with Curry as seen in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game: Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Milwaukee Bucks star won’t be available until the summer of 2021, but The New York Times’ Marc Stein noted in his weekly newsletter that the Warriors have at least had internal discussions about trying to lure The Greek Freak to California.
“Yet it’s likewise undeniably true that Steph and Giannis are buddies who are both represented by the same agency (Octagon) and share a mutual admiration that has resulted in Curry and Antetokounmpo selecting each other first overall with the No. 1 overall picks as captains in the first two All-Star drafts,” Stein writes.
“I can promise you, furthermore, that the Warriors have internally mused about a run at Giannis — however futile it may prove to be — in the event they can’t convince Kevin Durant to re-sign this summer. Trying to sign the most attractive free agent available is on the first page of the Golden State owner Joe Lacob’s playbook.”
If the Warriors could somehow lure Antetokoumpo out of Milwaukee in order to join Curry and Thompson during the last years of their prime, Golden State would once again become the evil overlords of the NBA. Of course, Durant could elect to stay in the Bay Area and keep winning titles rendering all of these whispers meaningless.
H/t NBC Sports
