Trades in the NBA have become increasingly difficult to pull off in recent years -- that is, according to the Warriors.
Golden State owner Joe Lacob candidly revealed what he believes is to blame for that during a recent appearance on The Athletic's "Hoops Adjacent" podcast, telling hosts Marcus Thompson and David Aldridge that, oftentimes, he believes the other side is to blame.
"[It's] very, very hard to pull off trades because everyone wants to prove -- you know, these GMs -- how smart they are," Lacob told Thompson and Aldridge. "It's true, and they want to impress their owners. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
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"But here's the problem. I think if I could share anything with many of the fans out there, and I read everything, I read what people say and the criticisms and the positive things, [it's that] they don't understand how hard it is, and how illogical some of the parties on the other side are sometimes. Maybe we're illogical to some extent. But my point is, it's just really, really hard to pull these things off."
Could Lacob be referring to certain trade talks in particular? The Warriors reportedly are engaged in current discussions with the Utah Jazz for All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen, but the two sides don't appear to be on the same page when it comes to a potential package.
Utah's original asking price of Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and draft capital was a "non-starter" for Golden State, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported Monday, citing sources -- and, to some, such an ask might seem illogical.
Before Golden State's rumored Markkanen efforts, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy made comments similar to Lacob's in his pre-NBA free agency press conference last month.
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“Beyond certainly learning about our team in general – I think I mentioned just before – it’s just hard to do deals,” Dunleavy told reporters at Chase Center. “I can't stress that enough. There's a lot of good teams out there that know what they are doing, whereas in the past, it just seemed like you could pull a fast one on somebody, or there's different reasons for doing a trade.
“Now it's hard.”
Of course, the Warriors are no stranger to blockbuster trades, like when they sent Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Chris Paul last summer. And around the league, NBA teams are striking deals left and right.
But Lacob is transparent about how he won't make a big trade for the wrong price, and it appears that could be why the Markkanen sweepstakes are at a standstill in the Bay. And for now, the CEO is more than satisfied with the Warriors' offseason efforts which have brought Buddy Hield, De'Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson to Golden State.
"I'm not going to give any examples, figure it out," Lacob laughed. "But I will say this: I think that what we wound up doing, I'm so proud of our group for what they accomplished this summer. People don't understand how much better I think our team is."
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