{"id":3924,"date":"2026-07-06T21:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3924"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:38:32","slug":"kurtenbach-the-warriors-arent-victims-of-the-lebron-sweepstakes-theyre-active-participants-in-their-own-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3924","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: The Warriors aren’t victims of the LeBron sweepstakes. They’re active participants in their own demise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All signs point to the Warriors losing the LeBron James sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

I could list off a bunch of recent reports that say just that, but anyone who has been paying attention has seen this outcome as inevitable for weeks.<\/p>\n

Read more Erika Kirk appeared at Charlie Kirk\u2019s alleged killer\u2019s preliminary hearing<\/a><\/p>\n

Because the Warriors were never going to change their playbook under general manager Mike Dunleavy: forfeiting the game while confidently pretending to be the house.<\/p>\n

Team CEO Joe Lacob and Dunleavy will soon play the victim. They\u2019ll decry the circumstance when LeBron inevitably takes his talents anywhere but San Francisco.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll peddle their favorite corporate buzzword \u2014 \u201coptionality,\u201d as in they still have their first-round draft picks and a couple median-value players \u2014 all to mask the reality: this front office is completely paralyzed by fear.<\/p>\n

Because the indefensible part is that, in refusing to pay the exorbitant but fully understood price to land LeBron, the Warriors didn\u2019t just miss out on the King. They missed on everyone else, too, choosing the warm embrace of PR-spun irrelevance over the cold risk of actually trying.<\/p>\n

When the news inevitably drops, the front office will declare what they always declare. \u201cWe tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then we\u2019ll have the leaks. They\u2019ll spin a yarn about how great Jimmy Butler\u2019s rehab is going.<\/p>\n

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They\u2019ll swear they have plenty of avenues to improve before the NBA trade deadline. And when the locals stop buying that slop, they\u2019ll float their interest in some 2027 free agent.<\/p>\n

Get ready for baseless Nikola Jokic rumors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same tired act the Warriors have performed since Bob Myers exited stage left with a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

They play the PR game, not the real one. They ensure everyone knows they\u2019re \u201cin the mix\u201d for every disgruntled superstar on the market.<\/p>\n

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Then, when the bill comes due, they suddenly discover they left their wallet in their other pants. They keep their powder dry.<\/p>\n

They maintain the status quo.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s that working out for them?<\/p>\n

The Warriors aren\u2019t victims here. No, they\u2019re the active participants in their own demise.<\/p>\n

If they actually wanted LeBron, the cost of doing business was laid out in blinding neon and a hastily scribbled whiteboard. Rich Paul didn\u2019t just read the tea leaves on his podcast; he served the league alphabet soup.<\/p>\n

If the Warriors wanted LeBron, they had to go get Anthony Davis.<\/p>\n

Yes, trading for Davis is a dubious proposition. The man has played fewer games over the last two seasons than Kristaps Porzingis, who is fighting a mysterious autoimmune disease.<\/p>\n

And acquiring Davis was going to cost Butler, a couple of first-round picks and a decent role player, to boot. You\u2019d likely have to extend him upon acquisition, too.<\/p>\n

Read more San Jose pastor convicted of domestic violence assault after suing former girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a massive risk. And if the Warriors balked at the price tag, fair enough.<\/p>\n

But the Warriors don\u2019t do big risks under Dunleavy. That\u2019s the core issue.<\/p>\n

Their fatal flaw, this time around, wasn\u2019t walking away from the LeBron mandate. It\u2019s that they stood frozen in the middle of the room, doing absolutely nothing else. They didn\u2019t have the ability to say \u201cthanks, but no thanks,\u201d and move on with their offseason, just like they couldn\u2019t make a call on Jonathan Kuminga last summer.<\/p>\n

They kept a chair open for a 41-year-old on the sheer, unadulterated basis of hope. They banked on the \u201callure of the Warriors\u201d \u2014 a strictly internal delusion \u2014 carrying the day.<\/p>\n

Hubris and risk aversion make for a lethal cocktail in high-level professional sports. Just ask a Bulls fan. Or the team a few blocks north of Warriors Way.<\/p>\n

Had the Warriors made the necessary, perhaps reckless, moves to land James, they\u2019d be sitting in a better position, to be sure. We\u2019d get one or two deeply fascinating years of basketball, fueled by the delusional idea that \u201cexperience\u201d wins championships.<\/p>\n

It definitely beats the current delusion of running back a 36-win roster and praying for a miracle.<\/p>\n

Because while Golden State held the door open for LeBron, the rest of the league did business.<\/p>\n

Guys like Collin Sexton, Anfernee Simons and Rui Hachimura \u2014 all viable options to use the mid-level exception the Warriors were offering LeBron \u2014 signed elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019ll slide De\u2019Anthony Melton or DeMar DeRozan into that empty chair and try to convince you this was the master plan all along.<\/p>\n

This franchise has proven the ability to spin anything \u2014 to keep ravenous fans on the line under any circumstance.<\/p>\n

But this is unspinnable. This is the end of that line.<\/p>\n

This is just embarrassing.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t just get played. They smiled as they lost a game they either didn\u2019t understand or were woefully inept at playing.<\/p>\n

Because when you operate entirely out of fear \u2014 fear of looking silly, fear of making a mistake \u2014 you always lose. The NBA is the realm of the bold, not the timid.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious which category these Warriors occupy.<\/p>\n

I reserve the right to be wrong here. Perhaps the latest reports are wrong. Perhaps my zeal to reiterate my distrust of the Dubs\u2019 front office has blinded me to their behind-the-scenes brilliance.<\/p>\n

I genuinely hope that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

Because the reality speeding toward the Golden State Warriors is just too sad to fully rationalize.<\/p>\n

Read more Suspect charged in fatal Oakland shooting of father of four<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Golden State Warriors: The Warriors talked a big game but never backed it up in their LeBron James pursuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nKurtenbach: The Warriors aren’t victims of the LeBron sweepstakes. 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