GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 17, 2026

Mike Dunleavy

Media Conference

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Welcome. I don't have a whole lot to say. We're looking forward to the draft next week. Got a couple of picks that we're excited about. I think we'll get a really good player at 11, and we'll just have to see with 54 the way things shake out in the second round.

But, you know, we've done pretty well in the 50s in the past. We'll study it and have a good process and, you know, probably come away with two players on draft night, but we'll just have to see. Everything is on the table.

But, yeah, really good draft. This is a fun time of year. I think the first step for us in the offseason is picking up a player or two that can help us.

Happy to open it up to questions and get right into it.

Q. If you keep 11, it will be the highest pick that you've had as a general manager. Is anything different? I know it varies year to year, the collection of players, but is the approach different for you? Are you finding it different with picking a lot higher than, what, 17 or 20, wherever the other ones have been?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Honestly, not really. I think you don't overthink it. You think about it the same way and, frankly, don't treat it any differently. I think in this case 11 versus 19, looking back with drafting Brandin, you get a little uneasy with, hey, we only have two guys we like, we hope they get there. Well, getting to 19 is a lot harder than getting to 11. You only have so many guys.

I think we're in a range right now where we feel this draft is very strong, and with the 11th pick we'll get a good player. I'm probably a little bit more at ease and comfortable that we'll get that versus drafting later on. You just have less of an idea of who is going to be there.

Q. Just throughout the pre-draft process, what's maybe opened your eyes about this draft class that's been so highly regard?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I think doing the deep dives, you look at the data, you look at the intel, you watch the film even more, and you know, you end up landing in a spot of, like, everybody has talked about this for multiple years about how great of a draft this is. You start to see it and understand, like, yeah, there's not a whole lot of warts. I think that's the biggest takeaway.

Frankly, I know we'd love to be in the playoffs, and because of that, we would be drafting 15, but I feel a whole lot better drafting 11 today than it would be if it was 15.

Q. In general around the league, how active do you expect teams to be within trades in the lead-up to the draft and on draft night?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think there will be a tremendous amount of activity in terms of calling, reaching out, and seeing if things are available. I do think because the strength of the draft, teams are valuing the picks even more than they ever have.

I also think with the new lottery odds, the draft picks are going to be more valuable moving forward. I think teams see it that way.

In the end, I think trades are probably going to be less and less because of teams being less willing to trade picks. So between the aprons and the new lottery rules, my guess is you're going to start to see less trades over the next few years.

Q. Going into a draft like this, you want to obviously upgrade your roster, and that's a big thing for you guys this summer, but you can also use the draft to trade. How much are you going into this draft knowing we're going to take someone in this draft versus maybe we might use this for a deal in the next week or so?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I mean, I think everything is on the table. We'll look at it all. I feel pretty confident that we will draft a player.

Does that mean we move back? Do we move up or something like that? Sure, but I feel like as strong as this draft is, we should probably come out of this draft with a player, unless if something falls into our lap trade-wise of a veteran guy that we really think can make a difference, we'll certainly look at it and potentially do it.

But this is a really good draft to be in, especially at 11. We don't want to overlook that.

Q. With NIL, it seems like more and more players are staying in college for longer and obviously getting experience, strength, et cetera. How important of a factor is it when you're evaluating these players is having someone who is a little bit older who can maybe contribute right away?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I think the draft has changed in that regard the last few years. You're just starting to see much older players be in the draft. I think it's different, and I think sometimes people overreact a little bit to say, oh, this guy is older, be careful, older players don't do well.

I think we're just in a different age where there's more older guys that have stayed in the draft. Therefore, it means that these guys can still be good. They just didn't come out earlier.

I think teams are just much more open to drafting older players, particularly in the second round. We've certainly done some of that.

The NIL thing and the transfer portal stuff has certainly changed how our draft works and has probably put a dent in the talent pool, specifically this year.

Q. Steve was really clear when he came back that maybe some of the focus has shifted. It's not just win-win. You do have to look at the longer view. You weren't directly saying that that day, but has some of it shifted, as you get into this, or are you not thinking as much about one more piece, or is that still part of kind of the DNA of this franchise?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I mean, honestly I kind of mentioned it a few weeks ago. I think the main focus beyond roster construction and what happens next April, May, and June for us is come August, September, November is the stuff we talked about internally about being more disciplined, taking care of the basketball, cleaning up some of those areas that will put us in a place to be in the conversation for those other things.

Right now we're in a spot where we're not going through the progression the right way. We're sitting here saying, let's keep turning the ball over, let's make a bunch of threes, try and overcome it, let's trade for guys with more talent that can overcome these mistakes we're making.

I'd rather back it up, clean those things up, and then build a roster from there where it's, like, okay, we're doing these things, and we have really good players, and now we have a chance to be in the conversation.

That's the way I envision it. So as far as, like, pulling back or changing our focus, I think it's frankly more of a refocus on what we need to do.

Q. Steve also mentioned that whatever rookie you end up drafting, they're probably going to have to play knowing Moses and Jimmy are out. Is that kind of in the plan, there's a commitment to the rookie playing and contributing right away in year one?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think the situation of the roster as it stands is going to lend itself to that. I think any time we draft a player, I think we want to be apprehensive about the fact that the guy can come in and contribute right away, but in this scenario I think we've got four guys right now under contract that will be healthy for training camp. So I think there's opportunity abound for whoever we draft, both at 11 and 54, to play.

It's probably a little bit different than we've had in the past with some of these guys. Whether we like it or not, the guys are going to be out there, you would think, barring injury or whatever. You know, that's a good thing. That probably speeds up their development.

Q. Mike, this is your fourth draft, I believe, as GM. How has your view of this process evolved, changed at all? Are you more averse to risk, less averse to risk that the first time in '23? Do you feel some pressure? As Tim pointed out, it's the highest pick you've had.

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I think over these last few years you learn a lot through every draft, right? You have your conversations. You have your process. You go through it with these discussions. Then you come out of it, and you look back, and you learn what you're right on, what you're wrong on. I would say anybody, who every year you go through a draft, you're going to get more and more comfortable.

As far as pressure, I think when you have the right process in place, you are thinking about things the right way, and then you go forward and just focus on making a good, sound decision, I don't feel any pressure in doing that. It's the fun part of the job.

Q. Obviously you were at the combine in Chicago. How much weight do you put into the combine, whether it's measurements, the scrimmage, interviews? How much weight do you put into that?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think all these things are a piece of the puzzle. The interviews, the medical, the workouts, the data, all that stuff is a piece. You want to complete that puzzle as much as possible before you pick a player.

The combine is a part of that. We get to interview guys. Frankly, we interview a lot of guys that aren't going to be at 11, which we would never have in our building. It's a great thing for not only preparing for this draft to get things in the right order, but in the future you never know with trades and free agency and stuff.

The combine is a great opportunity for that. Obviously you get all the testing data for the anthrometrics and the movement stuff, which is good. We take all that information, factor it in, and it's all a big piece of the puzzle where.

Q. Obviously the baseline is getting better, no matter what it is. You mentioned with the pick, everything is on the table, although you think probably right now you are probably going to make it. Is the organization as a whole comfortable if you guys not just with the draft, but going into the summer get old? In other words, getting older players compared to taking a couple of picks or getting some younger guys and building that way?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I mean, I think we've got to look at it. It's a sliding scale. We're okay with we're going to get older. Frankly, it's not the best thing, but if it's going to make us better, like significantly better, I think we have to look at that, because that's really our thought process and job right now is to make this team better.

If it means doing older, then we'll do it, but that's pretty unlikely. There's only so many guys I feel like we could bring in that are older. We've got some guys on the back end of it already, and to add to that, you know, there would definitely be some risk. Maybe there's a situation we do that and go for it.

Yeah, I mean, we obviously would prefer to get younger.

Q. How much do you use what you saw in the NBA Finals and the Playoffs in the evaluation process for this pick?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Good question. I mean, I think you've got to be careful about overreacting, but the playoffs are the ultimate test. It's a good place to see and view kind of where the league is at, where it's going.

We've had, what, eight different champions in eight years. Is that right? I'd say the big-picture thing is it's as wide open as it's ever been. We can't make any assumptions that this team is going to do it for the next ten years. They're going to be here. You know, injuries, salary cap issues, all those things. I think we've got to be careful of that.

More than anything, it teaches you just to focus in on yourself and what you can do to be better. Don't worry about we have to beat this team or we've got to be better than this at this position. I think it just reinforces we need to be better and let's focus on ourselves.

Q. Can you give us any information about possible conversations you've had with Porzingis, who is a free agent, and Draymond, who I know Draymond has to make the call first, but within that, I'm sure there are conversations. Would you consider either one? There's some traction there with an understanding? Where are you with those two players?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think now with -- I can't remember when the rules change, but stuff opens up where we can talk to our own players sooner, which is nice just to get that going.

I've had conversations with kind of all of our free agents, their representatives. I think we're in a good place with all of them.

Lots of good players, but as far as Draymond and KP, Draymond has the player option, but we're in communication with his group. Then same thing with KP. Both guys I think we value, we want here, and we see them as a kind of piece of the puzzle next season.

Q. Would it be a goal to try to get under and give yourself access to that nontaxpayer mid-level?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Sure, I think there's a path through that. It does come with some ramifications that we have to be careful of. It lowers our spending limit, which is tough, and we have some higher salary players.

It's a give and take, but I think it's something we'll look at. It definitely gives us some spending power in the free agency pool, but it also comes with some limitations, so we just need to be careful.

Q. You guys have hit on some second-rounders here lately, and I'm wondering, I guess most seem to have a different philosophy about earlier lottery picks and second-round picks. Is it an art? Is it a science? How do you navigate the second round? Obviously it's a much different from the top 15.

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Yeah, I mean, I think the approach on the second round for us has been not to overthink it. You've got to find -- you're looking for a guy that can just make it. You don't worry about position. You don't worry about size. You don't worry about age.

You're picking in the, for example, late 50s, it's hard to make it in the NBA that far back in the draft. So just don't worry, hey, we have too many guards. If there's a guard that we think could make it and it's just going to mean we have more guards, we just have to do it. Because the rest of the guys, if you try to pick for position at that point, you could go wrong.

I think the focus is just which guy has the best chance to make it? Let's get him in our program, develop him, get him to Santa Cruz a little bit, and see where it goes.

Q. Where do you stand on the one-skill philosophy, a guy has to have at least one NBA skill before you draft him?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Well, I hope picking at 11 we'll take a guy that has a lot of skills. You know, there's probably some accuracy to that as well as accuracy to, you know, this guy is an incredible competitor, a winner, whatever. That could be a skill, too.

You know, generally, the reality is if these guys have multiple skills that they're good at, it usually gives them a better chance to make it. Sure, if there's a guy that's an elite shooter or shot blocker or defender, they can go that that path, but it narrows the path for them. So you have to be careful about that.

Q. You talked about second-round pick, you're just trying to find someone who can play in the NBA. Regardless of position, do you have that same philosophy for the 11th pick in terms of position? Is that something you look at when deciding maybe who you want to take with that pick?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think you talk a little bit about position picking at 11. More in the light of how many positions the player can play. If are you drafting a guy that can only play one position, I think it's just something you need to be mindful of.

For us, I think we're in a good spot where, you know, frankly we need everything. So we don't need to be picky about this thing. I think we'll take whoever we feel is the best player kind of for the next -- this arc of their prime of their career that they will be coming into shortly.

I think that's the look on it, and we could use a little bit of everything.

Q. You obviously worked with Bob and this group for a while before you became GM. What did you learn from Bob about specifically the draft and how to prepare and how to make a pick, how to think about the pick?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: I think the first thing is it's fun. Bob used to always talk about, this is the best time of year, it's so much fun, I love the draft. He's right; it's true. This is a great time of year not only for myself, but for our whole staff, our organization.

You know, you're evaluating stuff. You're going to bring a new player into the mix. It's a great time.

I think overall, you know, I think we've learned a lot. We've had so many conversations. I've had so many conversations with Bob over the years, whether it's individual or collective, about how to draft, how to look for things. I this I what you realize is when you think you got it all figured out, you probably don't. Then you rethink everything.

That's probably the biggest thing I learned from Bob is you have to be adaptable, malleable a little bit and constantly evaluating how you're doing things.

Q. We talked to you probably five, six weeks ago. Has anything changed with the conversations with Steph as far as a potential extension?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: Raymond, is he trying to put me in a bad spot here? I don't think we can do that yet (laughing). Until August 30th I think, so I can address that come September.

But we love Steph. We hope he's here for a long time, and we'll see where that goes.

Q. You mentioned there might be fewer trades because first-round picks become available. Any one of them could be a top-3 pick. Does that make you less likely to trade future first-round picks?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: It could. I think we're kind of thinking through how we want to value our picks moving forward. I do think they have a lot of value based on our competitive tendencies. So I think we need to be careful about it, as we have already in the last, you know, however many years.

But we've shown a willingness to do it, whether it's acquiring Jimmy, doing the thing with Iguodala. We'll trade our picks if it makes sense. I think, as always, you just have to be careful.

Q. Have there been any updates to the coaching staff since we last talk to you?

MIKE DUNLEAVY: There haven't. We're still working through that. Obviously getting the main thing done with Steve was huge. With Terry and Jerry leaving, there obviously will be some changes, so we're working through that.

But nothing imminent. Once there is, we'll let you guys know.