Kevin Pritchard, the team’s president of basketball operations, expressed strong belief that the absence of a key player cost them a title. “When we made that trade, we asked ourselves: if it didn’t work out, would we still be fine? And we are. We bring back seven or eight of our top guys, plus we have cap space in free agency. This group deserves another shot at it.”
He added, “Game 7 was brutal. But if Ty hadn’t gone down, I genuinely believe we would have won it. That might sound like hot air, but I’m convinced.”
Pritchard also noted the importance of securing the right center. “We could have made it this far with a top pick but still had a glaring hole at the five. We couldn’t afford to miss out on a player like Zu. I wasn’t willing to take that gamble.”