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The Golden State Warriors could have been a new-look team this upcoming season if things had gone differently this summer. Twenty-one year old shooting guard Brandin Podziemski was inquired about by several teams, but the promising talent will stay in the Bay.
Golden State could have landed a king's ransom of picks for the Santa Clara alum, via The Athletic's Anthony Slater.
“The Warriors fielded several medium- to high-value draft pick offers for Podziemski in June, team sources confirmed. The Warriors, however, declined to bite.”
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. was transparent with “Podz” about it, though.
“A lot of these other teams are calling about you,” Podziemski said Dunleavy told him. “They want you, but you’re not going anywhere. You’re ours.”
Podziemski, who made the NBA All-Rookie first team last season, was especially desired by the Utah Jazz. The Jazz were shopping big man Lauri Markkanen, and they said that the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder would have to be included in the deal for Golden State to get him.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob, though, echoed Dunleavy's sentiments.
“He told me, ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re a priority here,'” Podziemski said. “I appreciate that, being a rookie and going into my second year, hearing that from such a prestigious organization. It feels good. I’m wanted somewhere. So, I appreciate them. They could keep me in the dark until a trade is done. But Mike and Joe were transparent from the draft to the Paul George situation to the Markkanen situation.”
Podziemski will play a big role in shaping Golden State's future, especially with Steph Curry and Draymond Green now being 36 and 34 years old, respectively. With Klay Thompson now off to the Dallas Mavericks, Podziemski will be leaned on more going forward.
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While there's a school of thought that says Golden State should mortgage the future to go all-in on a ring before Curry retires, it would be irresponsible to throw away a promising young player for anything less than a bonafide star. Podziemski even noticed some fans questioning why the team kept him
“From a fan perspective, from a media perspective, there is this looking at the front office kind of crazy,” Podziemski said. “Like, ‘You didn’t make any trades? You want to keep Brandin? Why him?’ There are questions that obviously the public and the media has. I see my fair share of it. It’s cool, and it’s not. It’s cool to see you’re valued by another organization in the NBA for such a good player like Markkanen. But at the same time, now that the trade didn’t go through, people on social media look at it like it’s my fault. I don’t have anything to do with it. But it’s cool.”
Regardless, the online haters don't seem to have gotten to Podziemski enough to affect his on-court play, which he proved in this past Summer League campaign, via the NBA YouTube channel.
