LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors went all-in … kinda.
The Los Angeles Lakers seemingly stay in that mode … kinda sorta.
Circumstances presented the Lakers with an opportunity to play the ultimate long game, with an offer they couldn’t refuse while the Warriors had to make a gamble on Jimmy Butler that in ordinary circumstances they might not have.
That explains this wacky NBA season, its wild trade deadline and perhaps a crazy, winding route to June.
LeBron James expects to be there every year while Stephen Curry seems to hope for it, without the outward or passive-aggressive pressure.
Perhaps it’s because Oklahoma City, Houston and Memphis sit at the top, teams that don’t have nary a conference finals appearance between them with this current core. Perhaps it’s the age of parity in the NBA turning the most sober and experienced figures into hopeless romantics, believing one move can put their teams back in the driver’s seat of contention when the sample sizes say otherwise.
Butler had a one-way ticket out of Miami Dade, without a true destination — but at least he knew he wanted out. As Butler held up his new No. 10 jersey in a small room in the back hallways of Crypto.com Arena, Luka Dončić stepped out to center floor to receive his first welcome from the home fans.
It represents hope for the future and present for both, but in different forms perhaps. The Warriors have always tip-toed the line between the present and future, while the Lakers seemed to throw move after move in order to satisfy their own outsized expectations.
Have they switched roles?
Kinda, because grabbing a player of Dončić’s caliber cannot be viewed as a move for the future, not when he has carried two different teams deep into the playoffs and last year, took the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals.
Butler is no stranger to deep runs, and it’ll be interesting to see how he and Curry mesh, with Draymond Green serving as sergeant in arms. He made it sound simple enough when talking to the media, believing the two stars see the game the same way.
“They always play winning basketball, and they’ll do whatever it takes to win,” Butler said. “They’ve won in so many different ways at the highest level and done it so many times.”
You could tell it was a jolt, a shot in the arm — perhaps things have gotten stale or folks got satisfied with the existing banners that hang high inside Chase Center.
“That’s the whole point of making a trade, is you need an energy shift,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “And it was obvious that this team needed one.”
Draymond Green admired that general manager Mike Dunleavy put himself on the line by acquiring Butler — and even though the two were teammates in Chicago, it’s still something one would be held accountable for if it goes wrong.
But hardly anyone seems to think that. The timeline for Butler’s contract lines up with Green, Kerr and of course, Curry — which means all are well aware of the implications, of time and basketball mortality.
“Very refreshing,” Green told Yahoo Sports. “That’s all you can ask for. With the experiences that we’ve had, to not play meaningful basketball is one of the hardest things in the world. To have the opportunity to do that? We still gotta build. We still gotta put this together and make this work.”
You could see the moves working on both sides as Thursday’s game played out. James got off to an excellent start as the Lakers were running the Warriors out of the building—a vintage performance and finish for a 40-year old, dropping 42 with 17 rebounds but even he was fading a bit down the stretch, an expected occurrence given his age.
Curry tried to grind his way into a productive game, shaking off a disastrous start to score 37 but it was on 35 shots and 20 of them came from the 3-point line. The nearest Warrior in shot attempts was Buddy Hield with 13 and he’s not the idea of a shot creator.
That’s where Dončić and Butler come in, clearly at different levels of offensive productivity but the decorated champions can’t carry a team for an entire game without truly showing their age.
“Being able to utilize the space, the gravity — if you call it. It’s a two-way street,” Curry said. “I’m gonna be able to help him, he’s gonna be able to help me. He’s a guy you have to worry about. There’s unique defenses that are trying to take me away off-ball, he can use that to his advantage.”
Curry mentioned a shot creator a few minutes before, and had to be reminded it was a “long time” since he played with another great shot creator, as in Kevin Durant — it feels like three basketball lifetimes ago, the music those two made together.
Butler comes into an established culture in Golden State, perhaps almost fittingly talking about losing his joy for the game in that infamous news conference in Miami. Kerr referenced the joy that’s been built and maintained through the years in the Bay Area, and Butler made sure to tell everyone that his basketball joy has returned.
Competing with like-minded professionals and $121 million certainly has a way of bringing that emotion and soothing the ego. With Dončić, it isn’t quite that simple — the shock of being traded is still evident, and it won’t go away quickly.
But playing with James and smiling as James motions to him during games, the two envisioning playing off each other or at least, keeping an extra set of eyes away from one while the other operates, could be a potent combination.
The Lakers themselves are firmly in playoff position, closer to the third seed than the Play-in with their 30-19 record. Thursday’s loss put the Warriors at 25-26, 11th place in the West but three games from the seventh spot.
They could still be kicking themselves for some of the collapses, the puzzling losses that might bite them in the end.
“We just got tougher,” Green told Yahoo Sports. “A lot of the games we lost earlier this year, with Jimmy here, we’d win. I mean a lot of games we lost this year, we blew. That changes that as well.”
He said there’s no way it’s too late for them to make up ground, and they’ll be a team to be reckoned with in the playoffs.
“No. We just gotta get to the playoffs,” Green said. “We just gotta get there. I guarantee you, we get there, nobody wants to see us.”
