In an NBA universe full of emotional executives making very emotional decisions, Mike Dunleavy is a determinedly clear-eyed and unruffled shot-caller.
He’s ruthlessly decisive in a very practical way, at a moment in Warriors’ history when, it turns out, the franchise has really needed this. The bottom line: Only six players remain from the roster he inherited just 21 months ago; he made a huge trade just days after taking over and kept on trading; and, of course, last month’s Jimmy Butler mega-deal has revitalized everything about this season.
The hallmark of Dunleavy’s tenure so far: No blinking, no overestimations, and lots of planning, leading up to fully committed decisions. Is he doing everything perfectly to maximize Stephen Curry’s final prime years? We shall see. He’s sure doing a lot of things. But Dunleavy so far hasn’t done anything fearfully.
“The one thing I knew is there’s going to be some tough times with it,” Dunleavy told me on my podcast this week. “But most importantly, I’ve got to make the right decisions, and I’ve got to be willing to make decisions … being real, being honest. I think that’s probably one of my biggest strengths.
“I’m not going to come home at night after a game that we beat up a bad team by 20 points and all of a sudden say we have everything fixed. I think I see things pretty emotionless in some ways and sometimes I think my wife or my close friends are like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ But I think in this business, it’s probably the right lens to look at things.”
This emotional detachment extends to his dealings with Warriors owner, Joe Lacob, who needs to hear the unvarnished truth from his GM. “You have to be real,” Dunleavy continued, “and I do this with Joe at times. And the phone can be quiet on the other end, when I say, ‘Joe, we’ve got to be careful. We’re weak in this area. We’re not good here.’ And I think at times he doesn’t like it. But he appreciates it.”
Of course, the Warriors are going for it
Steve Kerr tells a story about how and when he realized that Dunleavy really had this thing figured out. They were together last July when Dunleavy was feverishly trying to put together trades for Paul George and Lauri Markkanen. Neither worked out. A few days later, Dunleavy told Kerr he was going to sign some good players — De’Anthony Melton, Buddy Hield, and Kyle Anderson — and then see what he could do at the trade deadline in February, because he knew there’d be opportunities. A few months later came the Butler trade, which included sending out Andrew Wiggins, Anderson, and Dennis Schroder, whom Dunleavy had recently acquired for Melton.
“Holy sh–, it worked out exactly he had planned,” Kerr said last week. “He sorted through all of his options a few weeks ago and ended up with the very best option in Jimmy. Perfect fit. Really didn’t have to give up our future, just this year’s pick. Instantly got better. This is all happening under Mike’s watch and really on his cue. This guy is big-time at his job.”
By January, Dunleavy had decided that the Warriors needed a jolt. And since Butler’s arrival they’re 12-2 and are now in the Western Conference’s sixth slot. Dunleavy had been putting together the Butler trade offer for weeks before it happened — but concurrently was working to try to reacquire Kevin Durant. Once Durant told the Warriors he didn’t want to return to the Bay Area, the Warriors swiftly pivoted back to Butler. It was all laid out. Time to move.
“I think he’s a realist,” Lacob said recently of Dunleavy. “He sees what he sees. He analyzes it, looks at all the data, talks to our coaching staff a lot, got a great, great communication level with our head coach, Steve, and talks to me. I just think he’s a really good communicator. He’s proving to be nimble.”
So the Warriors are going for it, once again. Of course they’re going for it. They’ve got Curry and Draymond Green both signed through 2026-27. The new $112 million extension they gave Butler syncs him up to that timeline and guarantees that Lacob and Peter Guber will be paying massive luxury-tax bills into the future. Why wouldn’t Dunleavy do everything reasonable to give Curry as many chances at a title run as possible?
“One, he’s earned it. And two, he continues to play so well,” Dunleavy said. “It’s a no-brainer. What else — what are we going to do? Fold the cards and start anew? No, no, no. This guy and Draymond, too. I mean, Draymond is still playing at such a high level in so many areas.
“The decision is made for us. We’ve got to try and be the best team we could be. … There’s that line between impatience and discipline. And I think we’re walking it pretty well right now. But you know, the clock is ticking. These guys aren’t getting any younger, and inevitably, they will age out. And so, keeping an eye on the future, too, is important in this position. And we’ll continue to do that.”
‘Mike is fearless’
Butler, of course, does not exactly have an easy-going reputation in the league. In fact, the Warriors acquired him while under suspension with the Heat — all in Butler’s head-long pursuit of an exit. And it’s not the first time he’s created a volatile situation just to get to a new team and land a new contract.
I asked Dunleavy, who played with Butler in Chicago early in Butler’s career, why he vouched for Butler to Kerr.
“I mean two things, simple — IQ and competitiveness,” Dunleavy said. “And those are two things that Steve lives by and pushes. I hear it all the time when we’re talking. Whether it’s before games, after games, days off, Steve’s always talking about that with players we have on our team, players we’re trying to acquire, players in the draft. … He loves high-IQ guys. He loves competitors. And Jimmy’s as high as you get in those regards.”
Kerr didn’t need much convincing. He knew Dunleavy wasn’t buttering up the situation. The direct and honest case was the best one.
“He said, ‘I played with him and I will vouch for him. We’re going to get the best version him. And I’m telling you, you’re going to love coaching him,'” Kerr said. “That’s all I need to hear. It’s all played out. Circumstances were right for us and for Jimmy. And Mike recognized that and, in the end, here we are, we’re on a run and we’re in the mix again. That’s all we wanted.”
This is all a continuation of the close GM–coach relationship that began in the years Dunleavy was working under Bob Myers and has strengthened since Dunleavy’s promotion. Dunleavy is a formerly highly-drafted player who counts Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Thibodeau among his many guiding lights. Kerr’s a former player and executive who has a long list of accomplishments and a similarly pragmatic view of things.
“He’s not afraid; Mike is fearless,” Kerr said. “What I like about him is he’s got a great way of challenging me — but doing it as a partner and a collaborator. We were losing some close games early in the year. And we’d have conversations. It never felt like a threat. It was just, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? We’ve gotta get better in this area. We’ve gotta close these games better.’
“And the conversation is direct and to the point but always in the spirit of collaboration. He’s just got a great EQ and great way of being the boss but lifting everyone up, including me.”
Dunleavy is also pretty good at acquiring the kinds of players Kerr wants to coach. Myers was a Hall of Fame executive who put together four championship teams and figured out how to land Durant, Andre Iguodala, and many others; but he also drafted several young players who just never worked with Kerr’s system or the team’s culture. In contrast, Dunleavy selected two guys who fit right in — Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis — in his first draft last season. Then he added Quinten Post in the second round this season.
Post, a 24-year-old five-year college player, has rare status as a rookie who Kerr actually was nudging to get into the lineup almost from the beginning.
“You know, Steve was sort of pushing for it over the course of the season, knowing that we need some outside shooting, especially from the big position,” Dunleavy said. “‘Hey, get Quentin through Santa Cruz [in the G League] and maybe we can get him some minutes as the season goes on.’ I kind of pumped the brakes on that to Steve, admittedly, a little bit. You know, let’s give him some time. I think they brought him in the fold at the right moment.”
A playing career as a prelude
If your memory goes back a bit before the Curry era, you can’t help but remember that Dunleavy was a major part of the most recent deal that dramatically uplifted a Warriors season — except he was one of the players going out in January 2007. That’s when Dunleavy was traded along with Troy Murphy to the Pacers for Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington — a deal that immediately led to the “We Believe” run to the playoffs, ending the franchise’s torturous 13-year postseason drought.
That was a prelude for his arrival into the Warriors’ front office in 2018 and then his elevation to GM in June 2023. The Warriors won their most recent title in 2022, but there was work to do. And just think about this: In less than two seasons on the job, Dunleavy has traded for Butler, Schroder, and Chris Paul; almost traded for Durant; traded away Poole, Melton, and Schroder; watched Klay Thompson depart; signed Melton, Anderson, Dario Saric, and Hield; and still maintained options to do a lot more next July.
“I didn’t know maybe a year and a half, two years ago, whenever I took the job, [that] immediately we’re going to start just doing deals,” Dunleavy said. “[But] I get it. It entails making some tough decisions and then having some tough conversations with some guys. In this case, whether it’s Jordan or Wiggs, who have won championships here, or CP, who’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer and was awesome for us for a year, the main thing through all of this is just communication. Gotta be real, gotta be honest. And just be honest and have some sympathy for it. I’ve been through it as a player. … Doesn’t make it any easier. Probably makes it harder because I know what it’s like. But that’s the job. That’s what you have to do.”
Who knew Dunleavy would be this decisive at the start of his GM run? I doubt Lacob, Kerr, or even Dunleavy knew that for sure. I don’t think the Warriors were necessarily braced for this kind of action. But now that they’re here, with their best shot at a deep playoff run since ’22, it’s everything everybody connected with the Warriors could’ve wanted. For now. And then Dunleavy will figure out some other dramatic move to change it up again in a few months. Then again. And again.