Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. has revealed a major offseason goal for his team’s roster construction.
The former journeyman sharpshooter, who rose to his current gig after championship architect Bob Myers stepped down, recently reflected on his plans for the Warriors’ future personnel, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
The Warriors no longer are built to withstand size deficits and have acknowledged the need to get bigger this offseason (via @MontePooleNBCS)https://t.co/gdTEmqA3ZF
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 22, 2025
“That’s always, I know, around here the buzz word is ‘size.’” Mike Dunleavy said. “I’d love to have an ability to play bigger with Draymond [Green] and Jimmy [Butler III] in the frontcourt, and we can always go to our ace in the hole with Draymond at center, which we did basically from February 8 on.”
The deadline trade acquisition of Butler — next to whom Dunleavy once played on the Chicago Bulls — immediately reopened Golden State’s title window. The Warriors went 23-8 to close out their regular season after bringing in the six-time All-Star (23-7 with Butler on the floor) and signing him to a two-year, $111 million contract extension that will keep him in San Francisco through 2026-27.
But the Warriors clearly needed to bring in legitimate frontcourt size at the deadline, too. As Dunleavy noted, the 6-foot-7 Butler was generally installed as the club’s starting power forward, while the 6-foot-6 Green mostly served as the Warriors’ starting center.
Although the team was able to withstand the best efforts of the bigger, more athletic Houston Rockets in a hard-fought seven-game first round series upset victory, that height disadvantage came back to bite Golden State in the second round of the playoffs.
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“We’ll look at trades. We’ll look at free agency,” Dunleavy said.
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ top three big men — four-time Defensive Player of the Year center Rudy Gobert, three-time All-Star power forward Julius Randle, and 2024 Sixth Man of the Year center/power forward Naz Reid — obliterated the Warriors in the post and beyond. Gobert rejected several point-blank Butler drives to the rim, while no one could contain a red-hot Randle throughout the series.
Losing 11-time All-Star point guard Stephen Curry for four-and-half games of the five-game series with a hamstring strain didn’t help, either.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr did what he could, toggling 6-foot-9 vets Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis to little positive effect, and shifting rookie floor-spacing center Quinten Post in and out of his lineups.
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Post at least can make a jumper from beyond the arc. None of that triumvirate can protect the rim. Green is a solid one-on-one defender of big men, but often finds himself in early foul trouble and at this age lacks the athleticism to truly thwart legitimate bigs around the cup.
“You can get bigger, more athletic, more skilled in terms of shooting, passing, defending,” Dunleavy said. “We can improve in a lot of areas while at the same time knowing we’re shored up and good in some areas. We’ll look to do those things. For sure you can do that.”
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