NBA Podcast: Tim Kawakami on Jerry West, Steve Kerr and his new venture

The NBA has gone crazy this month.

Several all-stars have changed teams, with more — specifically Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony — hoping to follow suit. The rumor mill essentially hasn’t stopped since the season ended in mid-June, and doesn’t seem likely to slow down anytime soon despite the fact August is just around the corner.

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And, with all that being said, the last six weeks haven’t changed one crucial thing: that the Golden State Warriors remain the NBA’s best team.

But while the last several weeks haven’t changed Golden State’s status as both defending champion and favorite to win again next season, it’s still been a very busy summer, and Tim Kawakami stopped by the latest episode of Posting Up to discuss it.

Topics touched on include:

— Golden State bringing the band back again, including a contentious negotiation for Andre Iguodala that ultimately resulted in him returning

— The impending salary and luxury tax crunch the team is going to be facing, and why the team’s new San Francisco arena could solve those problems without Golden State having to give away any of its stars

— Why it wasn’t a surprise that Jerry West chose to leave the Warriors this summer, and why it wasn’t a surprise that he chose to join the Los Angeles Clippers instead of the Los Angeles Lakers when he did

— How Steve Kerr has found his calling as a coach, and how that’s helped drive him to stick around the franchise even as he’s battled debilitating back pain over the past two seasons

From there, the conversation shifted to Kawakami’s decision to leave a lengthy career in newspapers — including the last 17 as a columnist for the San Jose Mercury News and the Bay Area News Group — to become the editor-in-chief of The Athletic’s new site in San Francisco, and why he felt this was the right time — and the right place — for him to make the transition to a new job in a new medium.