{"id":6686,"date":"2026-08-12T20:38:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6686"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:38:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:38:41","slug":"kurtenbach-dunleavys-cold-call-defense-proves-how-far-behind-the-warriors-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6686","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: Dunleavy’s ‘cold call’ defense proves how far behind the Warriors are"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The NBA isn\u2019t a league where major roster upgrades happen by accident.<\/p>\n

No, this a league run by an elite, backroom syndicate where real power-brokers hatch blockbuster moves long before any transaction window officially opens.<\/p>\n

Read more East Bay woman\u2019s Lyft driver locked the doors on her, then attacked, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t sitting at those tables, privy to those text-message chains, looped in on those conference calls, you\u2019re just a spectator with a fancy title.<\/p>\n

And Mike Dunleavy Jr. \u2014 despite being the general manager of the Warriors \u2014 admitted Tuesday that he didn\u2019t receive the invite to the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re super aggressive,\u201d Dunleavy said of a Warriors offseason in which they added exactly zero new free agent players. \u201cIf people knew the cold calls I made offering a lot of stuff for players, I think they\u2019d realize how hard we\u2019re trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cold calls? Really?<\/p>\n

I make cold calls. The general manager of the Golden State Warriors should not need the Glengarry Leads.<\/p>\n

(Do you think Bob Myers needs them? )<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

If you\u2019re making \u201ccold calls\u201d in today\u2019s NBA, you\u2019ve already lost. The real deals are locked in over late-night dinners, back-channel texts and quiet handshakes months in advance.<\/p>\n

And the only thing the Warriors have locked in this far in advance is an early offseason in 2027.<\/p>\n

Dunleavy was hired to manage a the final years of a dynasty but he continues to prove, day in, day out, that he\u2019s running the Warriors like a lackey at a mid-level accounting firm.<\/p>\n

He can pick some nice bottom-of-the-roster players, sure, but that\u2019s not what wins in the NBA today or, frankly, ever.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

So in a summer where the rest of the league engaged in yet another high-stakes arms race \u2014 with players like LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown all available (among so many others) \u2014 Golden State\u2019s front office stood completely still.<\/p>\n

Sure, they tried, but what do they have to show for the effort?<\/p>\n

They did absolutely nothing to upgrade a 37-45 lottery team. That isn\u2019t patience or prudence.<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s a dereliction of duty.<\/p>\n

Steph Curry is 38 years old. He\u2019s still, somehow, one of the dozen best basketball players on Earth.<\/p>\n

Why does it seem like the Warriors\u2019 front office resents him for that fact?<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s his team\u2019s general manager is talking about the roster like a man trying to survive a tax audit instead of trying to win a fifth ring.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Dunleavy\u2019s thesis might statement: \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to win the championship in August.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a relief, because after this no-move summer, this team isn\u2019t going to win one in June, either.<\/p>\n

It takes a special brand of delusion to be this high on a supply this unremarkable.<\/p>\n

When asked about the optics of running back a team that won 37 games and missed the playoffs entirely, Dunleavy offered pure spin. He argued the Warriors technically \u201cadded\u201d because Kristaps Porzingis is around for a full season and guys are coming back from injuries.<\/p>\n

Who needs LeBron or Jaylen or Giannis? Who even needs a Lu Dort or Mitchell Robinson, a Tim Hardaway Jr. or Coby White?<\/p>\n

No, the Warriors are going to stand pat with a team that finished 10th in the West last season, counting on perfect health this upcoming season from a team built around aging veterans and guys recovering from major knee surgeries.<\/p>\n

Read more Nob Hill Foods supermarket in Los Gatos to close next year<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like building a house out of straw and praying the wind never blows.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a plan, it\u2019s insanity \u2014 like, to the colloquial definition.<\/p>\n

Of course, Dunleavy also spoke at length about how the league\u2019s new(ish) collective bargaining agreement makes player movement tricky. The Warriors love to tell you how difficult it is to make deals these days. He championed \u201ccap flexibility\u201d as the true secret weapon to success, despite that new(ish) CBA effectively ending high-level free agency.<\/p>\n

Dunleavy sounded less like an NBA executive trying to maximize a generational talent and more like a car salesman explaining why the engine light is supposed to stay on.<\/p>\n

Nobody buys tickets to Chase Center to watch cap space. They pay to watch Curry light up the galaxy.<\/p>\n

They pay \u2014 a lot, mind you \u2014 to watch the Warriors win games.<\/p>\n

Yet Dunleavy keeps rambling about threading the needle, internal development, and staying \u201cin the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Warriors aren\u2019t \u201cin the mix,\u201d they\u2019re a play-in tournament team. What would they be if everything broke right?<\/p>\n

The sixth seed, maybe?<\/p>\n

Not a title contender, to be sure.<\/p>\n

But amongst so many hits Dunleavy played Tuesday, there was one true bring-down-the-house number \u2014 the kind of quote that will come back to haunt him in due time:<\/p>\n

When asked about Curry and if the star has given any indication he wants to leave, Dunleavy casually mused that if Steph ever came to him and requested a trade, \u201cJoe [Lacob] and I will talk it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrong answer. Insanely wrong. Couldn\u2019t be more wrong.<\/p>\n

Yes, the GM of the Golden State Warriors casually laid the groundwork for trading the most important athlete in Bay Area history because he couldn\u2019t figure out how to build a competent supporting cast around him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost as if they want it to happen \u2014 as if they want to jettison the player Lacob inherited and prove, in his absence, that Joe and his scions were, in fact, the driving reason the Warriors went from laughingstock to the most valuable basketball team in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t love it,\u201d Dunleavy made sure to say, as if trading Curry is the equivalent of 101 traffic.<\/p>\n

Up the street, Buster Posey wouldn\u2019t engage on trading Logan Webb a few weeks back. Webb is a solid player \u2014 an All-Star \u2014 that is what, the 15th best pitcher in the National League?<\/p>\n

Yet Dunleavy had no problem entertaining the notion of trading one of the single greatest athletes in any sport, ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cOptionality,\u201d right?<\/p>\n

Wrong. The sole job of this front office is to ensure Curry \u2014 who is not just a franchise-changing player, but a league-changer \u2014 never has a single reason to look elsewhere, let alone ask for an exit. They\u2019re not supposed to be testing his loyalty, much less taking it for granted.<\/p>\n

And yet here we are: The Warriors have spent the entire summer twiddling their thumbs (not terribly different from last summer) and re-signing their own guys hoping the 2026-27 season is one where injuries are banned, but just for them.<\/p>\n

The rest of the league is playing poker, while Dunleavy is sitting in the corner playing Solitaire and congratulating himself on not losing any cards.<\/p>\n

Curry has earned better than this. The fans deserve better than this.<\/p>\n

Because if the Warriors brass thinks sticking with what they have is a winning strategy, then they clearly lost the plot on how to win in the NBA.<\/p>\n

And that leaves the door open for Curry asking to have that conversation Dunleavy \u201cwouldn\u2019t love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more San Jose: iniBurger with halal menu coming to Eastridge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inaction is a decision, and the Warriors are choosing to waste the final years of Steph Curry’s greatness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nKurtenbach: Dunleavy’s ‘cold call’ defense proves how far behind the Warriors are - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6686\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kurtenbach: Dunleavy’s ‘cold call’ defense proves how far behind the Warriors are - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inaction is a decision, and the Warriors are choosing to waste the final years of Steph Curry's greatness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6686\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-12T20:38:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Kurtenbach: Dunleavy’s ‘cold call’ defense proves how far behind the Warriors are\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-12T20:38:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686\"},\"wordCount\":1222,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/062b54d82b502df048bf95de48b952f8-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6686\",\"name\":\"Kurtenbach: Dunleavy’s ‘cold call’ defense proves how far behind the Warriors are - 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