The Warriors had one real job this offseason. Give Stephen Curry a roster that can actually make some noise in the playoffs. Curry’s already 38, he’s making $62.6 million next season, and he can hit free agency in 2027. There’s no patient rebuild angle available here. Every quiet summer just burns more of whatever elite basketball he’s got left.
Last season made that urgency pretty hard to ignore. Golden State finished 37-45, landed 10th in the West, and lost their Play-In game to the Suns. Their offensive rating ranked 18th, their defensive rating ranked 17th, and their net rating sat at minus-0.6, good for 20th league-wide. That wasn’t a good team that had one bad stretch. That was just an average team on both ends of the floor.
And Curry himself was still great. 26.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists on 46.8% shooting, 39.3% from three, 92.3% from the line, across 43 games. Jimmy Butler put up 20.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists before tearing his ACL and finishing his year at 38 appearances. Curry himself missed a big chunk of the season with a knee issue, and Kristaps Porzingis played all of 15 games after the deadline trade brought him in.
To their credit, the front office knew the problem. They kicked the tires on Giannis, Jaylen Brown, Anthony Davis and LeBron. Draymond Green turned down his option to help create room. A bunch of their early contracts were even structured with a star addition in mind. Which makes the actual result even more frustrating. No star showed up. No young high-level starter showed up either. They just ran it back with the same aging group and are basically asking Curry to trust that health fixes everything.
Drafting Yaxel Lendeborg At No. 11
This was probably the best call they made all summer, honestly. Yaxel Lendeborg’s 23, and he averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.2 blocks on 51.5%/37.2% shooting during Michigan’s title run. He’s not some three-year development project stashed in the G League. The size, the passing, the rebounding, the defensive versatility, all of it gives him a real shot to help right away.
The fit checks out, too. Golden State needs more athleticism around Curry, Butler, Green, Porzingis, and Horford, and that’s exactly what Lendeborg brings. He can guard forwards, switch onto guards, crash the boards and move the ball without needing a bunch of touches to be useful. Nobody’s expecting him to be a lead scorer. He just doesn’t need Curry to manufacture everything for him.
His Summer League run only made the pick look better. He helped the Warriors win the whole thing and dropped 21 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals in the final. Summer League doesn’t promise anything long-term, sure, but the guy looked genuinely ready.
The catch is he’s still a rookie. Even a great rookie shouldn’t be the headline addition for a team trying to convince everyone it can win now around a 38-year-old. Good pick inside a disappointing summer. Not a move that changes the ceiling by itself.
Grade: A-
Bringing Back Al Horford
Al Horford turned down a $6.0 million option and came back on two years, $14.0 million. Reasonable price, and he can still give you something in short bursts. 8.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists on 42.6%/36.1% shooting across 45 games last year. The Warriors like his passing, his positioning, and how well he plays next to Green or Porzingis. At $7.0 million a year, he’s not exactly breaking the bank as a rotation big.
Still, the guy’s 40. He played just 45 games last season, and this can’t really be sold as a meaningful upgrade. Bringing him back as depth makes total sense. Counting on him to stay healthy and play real minutes is just another version of this team betting that an old roster somehow gets less old.
A second guaranteed year feels like a bit much for a player at this stage of his career too. It’s not a bad contract. It just doesn’t do anything to fix their need for younger size, rim pressure, or basic durability.
Grade: C+
Re-Signing Kristaps Porzingis
Kristaps Porzingis got two years and $40.0 million after putting up 16.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 15 games following the trade from Atlanta. Only $3.0 million of the second year is guaranteed before the guarantee date kicks in, which gives Golden State an easy exit if the health issues show back up.
Purely on value, this is one of their better moves of the summer. A healthy Porzingis is worth well more than $20.0 million a year. He stretches defenses feet beyond the arc, finishes over smaller guys, and protects the rim. His shooting opens things up for Curry and Butler, and his size gives the team a completely different look than their usual small ball groups.
The obvious problem is availability. He played 15 games for this team and has never once played a full 82-game season in his career. Golden State already has too many guys who need rest or reduced minutes as it is. Curry, Butler, Green, Horford, and Porzingis can’t all be treated like bonus pieces you hope show up. They basically are the rotation.
That flexible second year guarantee is what keeps this from being a genuinely bad contract. Porzingis could be their second best offensive player if he’s actually healthy. But paying a guy fairly isn’t the same thing as improving your roster. He was already on the team. They barely even got to see the fit play out.
Grade: B
Re-Signing De’Anthony Melton
De’Anthony Melton passed on his $3.5 million option and signed back for two years, $11.0 million. He averaged 12.3 points and 1.6 steals coming back from ACL surgery, and his two-way game made him one of the only guards who actually kept this team afloat when Curry sat.
This is a good contract, plain and simple. Melton can guard the ball, play off Curry, and hit enough open threes that he doesn’t hurt the spacing. $5.5 million a year is cheap for a rotation guard, and the deal doesn’t box them in for future moves.
He also gives this aging core something it badly needs. Energy that doesn’t require the offense to be built around him. He’s not going to solve their lack of high-end shot creation, but he can close some games out and take tough defensive assignments off Curry’s plate.
This is exactly the kind of move a contender should be making. The problem is it works a lot better as the fourth or fifth decision of an aggressive summer. Not one of the headline moves.
Grade: B+
Letting Quinten Post Walk To Memphis
Memphis handed Quienten Post a three-year, $30.0 million offer sheet, and Golden State didn’t match. Losing a young rotation center for nothing stings, especially with the frontcourt already leaning on Porzingis and Horford staying healthy, which is far from a guarantee.
Post wasn’t some untouchable piece, to be fair. Paying $10.0 million a year for a limited sample would’ve cut into their flexibility on a team already bumping up against the apron. They also drafted Lendeborg and brought back other frontcourt depth, so there’s a financial case for letting him leave.
Basketball-wise, though, it still feels like a real risk. Post is younger than every other big man on this roster, can actually shoot it from three, and already knew the system inside and out. They saved some money, sure, but they essentially swapped a 26-year-old for more minutes going to guys who are 31, 36, and 40.
Would’ve been a lot easier to live with if the savings had gone toward landing a star or a real starter somewhere else. Since none of that happened, this reads a lot more like cost control than actual roster building.
Grade: C
Bringing Back Charles Bassey
Charles Bassey re-upped on a one-year deal after appearing in just five games for Golden State, averaging 10.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.4 blocks in only 20.1 minutes. Small sample, but the rebounding and the bounce give the frontcourt a different look than anything else they’ve got.
He can hold up against physical centers and doesn’t need touches to be useful, which makes him easy to plug in next to the main guys. There’s not much downside on a short-term deal like this either. He’s only 25 and could easily outplay the contract if he stays on the floor. He also gives Kerr another option in the frontcourt after losing Post.
As a depth move, it’s totally fine. Just don’t try to sell it as proof the frontcourt’s been fixed.
Grade: B-
Missing On Giannis, Jaylen Brown, And Anthony Davis
This is where the whole summer really fell apart. Per Shams Charania, the Warriors explored a Giannis trade and were reportedly willing to send out four first-round picks, but Milwaukee just wasn’t interested. That one’s not fully on Golden State. You can’t force another franchise to say yes.
The Jaylen Brown situation is a lot tougher to defend, though. Charania reported the Warriors could’ve gotten into that market for something around four first-rounders, and they chose not to pull the trigger. Brown ended up part of Philadelphia’s new superteam instead, while Golden State kept its picks and stayed on the outside looking in.
Brown would’ve cost a lot, sure, but that’s just the going rate for an elite two-way wing these days. He put up 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists last season, and he’s still right in his prime. A Curry, Brown, and Butler perimeter trio would’ve given this team enough scoring, defense, and physicality to legitimately scare anybody in the West.
Anthony Davis was the other big swing, partly because landing him could’ve helped their pitch to LeBron too. Washington just wasn’t interested in moving him, and there was reportedly never any real negotiation there. Golden State didn’t control that outcome either, but the whole star plan hinged on other teams solving problems for them.
Credit where it’s due, they aimed high. But attempted trades don’t win you anything. They came into the summer needing a second star and walked away without one.
Grade: F
Losing Out On The LeBron Race
LeBron was the last real swing they took. Golden State cleared flexibility, waited out other free agents, and left Green’s future hanging while they chased him. In the end, LeBron signed with Philadelphia, joining Embiid, Brown, and Maxey instead of teaming up with Curry.
Honestly, it’s not hard to see why. Philly built a younger, deeper roster with a much clearer road through the East. Golden State was selling history and relationships and one last ride with Curry, but they just couldn’t match the actual roster around it.
Missing out on LeBron isn’t automatically a front office failure by itself. He picked his own destination, that’s how it works. The real mistake was letting the entire offseason stall out while they waited on a long-shot outcome. By the time he chose Philly, most of the real free agents and realistic trade pieces were already gone.
They ended up with flexibility and nobody to show for it. That’s a brutal trade-off when Curry’s remaining prime is the single most valuable thing this organization has left.
Grade: F
Re-Signing Draymond Green
Draymond Green eventually came back on a one-year, $27.7 million deal, the exact number of the option he turned down. He averaged 8.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists last season while shooting 32.6% from three.
Keeping him around made sense. He’s still their defensive quarterback, still understands Curry better than anyone alive, and he can still swing a game when he’s fully locked in. The one-year term also lines him up with Curry and Butler, who all hit free agency together in 2027.
That said, the salary’s a lot for where his production sits right now. Teams just ignore him outside the paint, and the spacing gets ugly fast whenever he shares the floor with another non-shooter. His overall impact also dipped hard whenever Curry was out, since the offense couldn’t lean on their chemistry the same way.
This is a reasonable loyalty and continuity move, and it’s not a terrible contract given it’s only one season. But bringing Green back right after whiffing on every star target makes the whole summer feel like a reset button back to the same team that won 37 games.
Grade: B-
Not Making A Single Real Addition
This roster could still get better if Curry stays healthy, Butler bounces back strong, Porzingis plays more than 15 games, and Lendeborg contributes right away as a rookie. That’s a lot of ifs stacked on top of each other for a core that’s already old and already hurt a lot.
Curry, Green, Porzingis, and Horford combined to miss 146 games last season. Butler’s still working back from a torn ACL. And the plan was just to bring everybody back and hope the availability sorts itself out. That’s not really roster building. That’s just hoping.
They also never actually fixed their biggest on-court issues. Still no reliable second creator while Butler’s out. Still not enough rim pressure, not enough young size, not enough athletic scoring. Their offense ranked 18th, their defense ranked 17th. There wasn’t one small crack to patch here.
Lendeborg can help. Melton was good value. Porzingis could have a much better year if his body cooperates. None of that changes the bottom line. They didn’t add a single proven player who actually raises this team’s playoff ceiling.
Grade: F
Final Offseason Grade
There were some genuinely reasonable moves in here. Lendeborg was a strong pick at 11. Melton came back cheap and useful. Porzingis’ deal has real protection built in.
But you can’t grade an offseason without factoring in expectations. A rebuilding team gets a fine grade for a summer like this. Golden State isn’t rebuilding, though. Curry’s still playing like an All-Star and getting paid $62.6 million to do it. This team is supposed to be squeezing every last drop out of the final stretch of the greatest player in franchise history.
Instead, they protected their picks, missed on every star target, and ran back basically the same group that finished 37-45. The best case for improvement here is just health, and health isn’t a plan when your core is this old. If Curry signs another extension somewhere down the line, they’ll get more chances. They still burned one of the summers that actually mattered.
Final Grade: D+
