Goodbye Baron, hello Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf. In what has been an extremely chaotic week for the NBA, the Golden State Warriors have now signed veteran swingman Maggette from the Los Angeles Clippers. The deal seems to signal what is essentially a trade between the Clippers and Warriors for players Baron Davis (headed to LA) and Maggette (headed to the Bay).
And it seems as if the Warriors are not done yet. They have reportedly signed Los Angeles Laker Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet, a basic agreement that is the preliminary version of a contract. This gives the Lakers a chance to match the bid from the Warriors, which is a reported $17 million over the next 4 years. However, all sources indicate that the Lakers will NOT match this deal, as they are already about $6 million over the NBA's luxury tax cutoff, meaning they will have to pay even more money for Turiaf.
The Warriors have now stolen players from both LA teams, although the focus still seems to linger around Davis, the one player the Warrriors lost (well they actually lost Mickael Pietrus (Orlando Magic) and Matt Barnes (God-knows-where) as well, but no one cares about them). Baron is now put in quite a sticky situations, as Maggette (the Clippers leading scorer last year) and Elton Brand (the face of the franchise) have both bolted for the Warriors and 76ers, respectively. I feel bad for Baron, but he never should have left the Bay.
On the other hand, GM Chris Mullin has indicated that the Warriors are far from done in the free agent market. The Warriors would like to add a point guard to keep some of the pressure off of Monta Ellis, who it appears will become the new face of the franchise (sans beard, of course). With free agents such as Steve Francis, Kirk Hinrich, and Andre Iguodala potentially hitting the market, the Warriors still have a lot to gain this offseason. Let's hope they make the most of it.
On a side note, I just came back from a week-long journalism workshop at Stanford University. The campus was awesome, the weather was hot, and the advisors were amazing. I have learned a lot and hope to put it into my writing on this blog. Speaking of the blog, things will be returning to a normal schedule, which means you can check in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for your sports news. Until next time, check out this short video about Ronny Turiaf's story from open-heart surgery to the NBA. The man is literally 100% heart and passion, and I am happy that he will be wearing a Warriors jersey next year.
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