The Golden State Warriors followed up another championship run with another terrific offseason. But was it as perfect as it seemed?
When a team enters the offseason with nothing more than the taxpayer Mid-Level Exception at its disposal, it generally isn’t the story of the league. This becomes all the more true when, during that same summer, the second-greatest player of all-time decides to go to play for the NBA’s most decorated franchise.
There’s something about the Golden State Warriors, though. Sure, they used that aforementioned diminutive resource to sign an all-NBA center in DeMarcus Cousins, but that glosses over the fact that he may not play until February, and may not play like himself ever again.
Maybe this doesn’t matter. Maybe many basketball fans still don’t quite understand just how damning a torn Achilles is. Maybe they do understand, but it’s more fun to be upset anyway.
Maybe it’s that the signing was neither the start nor end of the Warriors’ big, bold offseason. We’ll break down all of the team’s official moves here, evaluate them free of emotion or hyperbole, and see if Golden State’s actual efficacy this summer matches the outrage it has generated.