Zaza Pachulia recounts best decision of life to sign with Warriors, find a home originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The doors to NBA free agency swing open this month, and dozens of players will be on the market. Some have the status to choose their next team. Others accept the only offer available. Some go overseas. A few retire.
For fans glued to the NBA’s summer news cycle, it’s a fascinating time. For players and team executives, there can be enough uncertainty to redline stress levels.
Former Warriors center Zaza Pachulia, a guest on the latest episode of the “Dubs Talk” podcast, has been there. He endured multiple summers in free agency during his 16-year NBA career.
One foray stands so far above all others that he enjoys reliving it. That would be joining the Warriors in 2016.
“That was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life,” Pachulia told NBC Sports Bay Area.
Pachulia, then 32, was coming off a solid season with the Dallas Mavericks, starting 69 games at center, playing alongside the likes of Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, Chandler Parsons and Wesley Matthews. His two-year contract, signed with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2014, had expired and he was home in Eastern Europe, preparing to play with Georgia’s national team.
“My agent calls me, and he goes, like, ‘I got a couple options for you,’ ” Pachulia recalled. “But this is probably the most important decision you’re going to face, the most important decision you’ll ever face. Option 1 is Dallas wants you back. And then there was another team. And there’s another team. And the last option is the Golden State Warriors.”
The Warriors, featuring All-Stars Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, 11 weeks earlier finished the regular season with an NBA-record 73 wins. They were 16 days removed from losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a searing seven-game NBA Finals.
Golden State also was two days removed from signing Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant, one of the most coveted free agents to ever grace the market.
And now his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, was on the phone sending a grand opportunity through Pachulia’s ears.
“He said they’re looking at you as a starting center,” Pachulia said. “I was obviously . . . I was already thinking about it. This was Steph, Klay, KD and Draymond. And they needed a center. And I said, ‘Wow, these kinds of calls don’t happen.’ This is a lifetime opportunity. We’re like these are generational players.”
Zaza’s mind was racing. Visions he had not imagined were becoming clear in his mind. Pachulia and his wife, Tika, had two sons and a daughter, all between 3 and 7 years old. His NBA career had taken him from Orlando, where he was drafted in 2003, to Milwaukee, to Atlanta, back to Milwaukee and then to Dallas.
There had been a few trips to the playoffs, but none of those steps had offered anything close to an NBA championship. Nothing like this.
“This is generational, a once-in-a-lifetime call, this opportunity,” Pachulia recalled. “It was not about the numbers. It was unique. And that was special summer. It was not about which team is offering how much money and how many years, and what other bonuses. There was none of that.
“It was the Warriors’ offer, and it was everything else. And once I was thinking about the Warriors offer, once I was thinking about that I was going to be part of something special, something unique, I couldn’t focus on other offers.”
Pachulia had one request before accepting Golden State’s offer. He wanted to speak with head coach Steve Kerr.
Kerr talked about his coaching influences, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. He explained his general coaching philosophy and how he wanted to deploy Pachulia. About 20 minutes later, the big man was sold.
Less than a year later, Pachulia and his teammates were celebrating with a championship parade through the streets of Oakland.
“Everything he said, that’s how the season went,” Pachulia recalled. “But honestly, that was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. At the end of the day, life is beautiful, because it’s just kind of either you make the right decision or you learn from it, right?
“That was one of those moments where I think I made the right decision, and the reason why I’m still here, because of that right decision, it’s kind of building on it, and still part of this amazing community is amazing organization, and this became home.”
Pachulia, two years later, signed a free-agent deal with Detroit, staying with the Pistons for one year before retiring and returning to the Warriors in a consulting capacity. He and his family had found a home.
Which is what most NBA free agents will be seeking in the weeks to come.
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