The Warriors Reportedly Decided Not To Trade For Jaylen Brown Because They Didn't Think He Could Carry The Franchise After Steph Curry Retired
Brian Babineau. Getty Images.The other day while talking about the Warriors missing out on LeBron and frankly fumbling their task of building around Steph Curry, Shams let it slip that Brad Stevens actually tried to flip Jaylen Brown to GS right in the middle of their surprise season while the Celtics were sitting comfortably in the 2 seed at the trade deadline.
When that report came out, Shams made it seem like the asking price (4 1sts, some 2nds and swaps etc) was too rich for GS so they decided not to go forward with it.
As it turns out, that may not have been the whole story.
“Should they have gotten in on the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes? The Warriors had an opportunity to trade for the former Celtic before the deadline in February, but couldn’t build an organizational consensus that Brown would be the right player to carry the Warriors beyond the Curry era.”
Mind you, we're not only talking about maximizing the last few years of Curry's career here. We're talking about the post-Steph world. I'm sorry, but excuse me? Say what you want about Jaylen Brown, but what exactly are we talking about here? Let me just ask you a quick question. Say Steph plays 2 more seasons or so, who exactly on their current roster is the "right" player to carry the Warriors in the post-Steph world? I mean, look at this shit!
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It's certainly not Jimmy Butler, who would be around 39 years old (and who would have been the player in the Jaylen trade to make the money work). It's certainly not Porzingis or Al Horford either.
Moses Moody coming off his injury doesn't really feel like a "franchise carrying" type of player. Yaxel Lendeborg will be nearing his 30s, and he's someone who hasn't played a second of NBA basketball yet. Not to mention, back in February the Warriors didn't even know he'd be on the roster.
So is the answer…..Podz?????
Giphy Images.If I were a Warriors fan, shit like this would literally drive me insane. Not only is this front office/ownership group unable to build around Steph Curry, but now they are thumbing their nose up at an All-NBA caliber player/NBA Champion/ECF and Finals MVP who just showed he could handle carrying the load for a team that won 56 games in favor of someone like Brandin Podziemski?????
Mind you, once Steph Curry retires (or asks out), the Warriors are over. It's time to rebuild. So what does "carrying the franchise" even mean? What does that front office think is going to happen in that post-Steph world? They are going to be dogshit. It would be a BLESSING to have a player of Jaylen's talent level/experience/etc to lead your franchise into its next chapter. Even if you think Jaylen Brown is overrated, not worth his supermax etc, this is still a batshit insane reason to not pull the trigger on something that could help Steph in the short term, and then also still give you a All NBA caliber player for the next phase.
Not only that, but he would eventually serve as a high-salaried expiring contract that you could flip down the line for assets! You know, something that is pretty damn important for a rebuilding team!
Mind you, this is the same ownership group that thought James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga were the answers, and how did that go? I feel extremely confident that the Warriors will never draft a player as good as Jaylen Brown now or the version that's in his early 30s, so again, if Jaylen Brown isn't good enough for the Warriors in a post-Steph world, who the fuck is? If it doesn't work, you flip him!
I guess perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that this was their thought process when it came to Jaylen, considering this is the same franchise that apparently has zero interest in actually competing with Steph
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and at some point Warriors fans will probably reach their breaking point. For now, Steph being around gives them enough of a reason to watch/pay attention/etc. But once he's gone? Why should fans give a shit about a team that very clearly has no interest in actually getting better. In my opinion, they're in for a rude awakening and things will most likely look like they did pre-Steph Era, when the Warriors were dogshit, could barely win 30 games and nobody really gave a shit about them. That's totally a better position to be in as opposed to having Jaylen Brown on your team who will most likely still keep you competitive. Good job Joe Lacob!