Dieter Kurtenbach: It's Lauri Markkanen or bust for the Warriors

If you squint and look at just the right angle, you can see a Golden State Warriors team that improved this offseason.

Sure, Klay Thompson — amid a surprising amount of one-sided acrimony — walked out the door, and yes, the Warriors did not turn Chris Paul’s expiring contract into, well, anything.

But with both of those players off the team’s books, the Warriors were able to sign De’Antony Melton — a premier perimeter defender — to a full mid-level exception contract ($12.82 million), and add Kyle “Slo-Mo” Anderson via a sign-and-trade deal. And perhaps Buddy Hield will use up the rest of that roughly $16 million trade exception the Warriors received from the Dallas Mavericks for Thompson.

In crude, but simple terms, the Warriors traded Thompson and Paul for Melton, Anderson, and Hield (pending the Warriors and Sixers finalizing a sign-and-trade first reported by Shams Charania Tuesday night).

Is that a win?

Sure. You can easily say the Warriors are now better on defense and just about equivalent on offense.

Let’s just call it a wash. The Warriors squandered the Paul exit and lost one of their great all-time players (that matters, too) in unceremonious fashion, but ultimately scrapped, clawed, and fought to pull it back to something close to even. Credit to general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. for that.

But pulling back to even isn’t good enough for the Warriors because, as you might recall, the team stunk last year.

I know it’s fashionable to say the Golden State was not, actually, far off in 2023-24. I get it: It’s fun to revise history. And folks are having a ton of fun noting that they won 46 games (pretty good!) despite Draymond Green’s suspensions.

But ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit 48 minutes of April basketball in Sacramento into evidence.

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