A block from the Warriors’ downtown Oakland facility, a couple days before camp begins, Zaza Pachulia settles in for a late lunch. He contorts his 6-foot-11 frame into a small wooden chair. He sighs. He looks drained.

“Jet lag,” Pachulia shakes his head.

He got to the Bay Area on Monday. But the flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to San Francisco was 11 hours, non-stop. The trip started in Georgia – not the state, the small country neighboring the northeast tip of Turkey.

It’s Pachulia’s home. He plays for the national team every summer. Their last game was Saturday. His first Warriors practice is next Tuesday. In between, he’s moving halfway across the planet to a place he’s never lived.

But Pachulia doesn’t mind. This is what he signed up for. This is why he left money on the table. Not for the stresses of the past week, but for the nine months ahead, for a shot at his first title, for a starting spot on the world’s most followed basketball team. But even when the offer was on the table, he wasn’t always sure he should take it.

The waiter arrives with two glasses of water. Pachulia looks at both. He tries to explain.

“Ok, so, you know, you have these two glasses right here. But I like this one better,” he says. “I want this one. But let me wait a second. Let me think. Let me still analyze. Let me go through the details again.”

The favored glass has four All-Stars. Two sure-fire Hall of Famers. A roster loaded with talent. And, hey, also a massive hole at center, the spot you just happen to play. It’s desperate for you. But it can only pay $2.9 million for one year of service.

The other glass will more than double the money and triple those years. And guess what, it’s a drinker’s market! On the other table, two more glasses are upping the ante. You may not like what’s in them, but you like what they’re offering.

“Of course money is important,” Zaza says. “Very important. Important to everybody. If I said it wasn’t, I’d be lying. Especially because it’s not like I’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars in my career.”

Which is an important factor. Pachulia is 32. In his profession, careers don’t last past 40. Zaza’s value has never been higher. But it can decline in a flash. He’s never made more than $5.2 million in a season. He could’ve comfortably eclipsed that in the market this season. But he declined. He took a financial risk. He chose the winning situation.

“A pretty significant amount,” Pachulia said when asked the exact dollar amount he left on the table. “Don’t want to get into the details. But a pretty significant amount. I’ll be a free agent next year, so we’ll see again. But first of all, I’m not thinking about next year. I’m all in on this year. That’s the reason why I sacrificed financially. It’s not because of next summer. It’s because of this season.”

Pachulia was drafted by the Magic in 2003. His rookie season, Orlando went 21-61. Then he was taken in the expansion draft by the Charlotte Bobcats. He never played there. They traded him to the Bucks. His lone year in Milwaukee, they went 30-52. Then he signed with Atlanta. His first two years with the Hawks: 26-56, 30-52. Four years, four teams, 114 games under .500.

“Trust me, that’s not fun,” Pachulia said.

His fifth season, the Hawks went 37-45. But that was good enough for the eighth seed in the East. They faced the top-seeded Celtics, the eventual champs, in the first round. They pushed them to seven games.

“The atmosphere, we played seven games, it was amazing,” Pachulia said. “I told myself after we got eliminated, I said, wow, moving forward, I just want to compete as much as possible to put myself in playoffs as much as possible.”

The Hawks stayed relevant, making the second round a few times. They were a fun team, featuring a young Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. Their arena was nicknamed the Highlight Factory. But they were still learning the game and the league.

“We started 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds,” Zaza said. “Young guys.”

Pachulia eventually signed back in Milwaukee for a couple seasons and helped the Bucks snag a sixth seed in 2015. But, he says, his eyes weren’t truly opened to pure winning basketball until last season in Dallas while working under Rick Carlisle and around Dirk Nowitzki.

“Dirk, man, 37 and he still running sprints after practice,” he remembers.

In Dallas, Pachulia felt the appreciation. He’d set a clean screen, they’d acknowledge. He’d swing a smart extra pass, it’d get shown in film.

“I could tell my presence was valuable,” he said. “My teammates were valuing me, enjoying playing with me. Because I was helping.”

He averaged 8.6 points and a career-high 9.4 rebounds. But he found himself caring about the stat sheet less and less.

“The little things are what get you to the next level,” Pachulia said. “I believe in the little things. The screens you don’t see in the stats, the hockey assists. I’m a big believer in that.”

Dallas got eliminated in the first round by Kevin Durant’s Thunder. A couple months later, Durant bolted for the Warriors. Pachulia was shocked: “I thought, man, this is unbelievable. This team is already great. Now he’s going there. Who’s going to beat them?”

But because of the move, Golden State lost Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli. They had a massive hole at center and nothing more than the $2.9 million room exception to use on it. Zaza was out of their price range. Bob Myers reluctantly reached out.

“I didn’t really want to call his agent,” Myers joked. “Because I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

But Pachulia was intrigued. Like most vets, he’d been bit by that winning bug. This was the perfect opportunity. An opportunity to start for a massive title favorite. But he still needed some convincing. Give Steve Kerr the assist.

“We closed the deal basically after I talked to coach,” Pachulia said. “He’s a good salesman. Good guy. You can tell from interviews what kind of person he is. Trustable. Honest. You can tell from his tone, from his manners. After our phone conversation, I knew I wanted to be part of it.”

Kerr glows about Pachulia’s game – his underrated passing, his hard screen-setting, his defensive positioning. He’s not nearly the rim protector Bogut was for Golden State. But he’s a serviceable replacement. Kerr has already named him the starter.

“I was almost as happy with Zaza signing as I was with KD,” Kerr said. “And I mean that. … You have to have a good solid center in this league and we didn’t have one.

We had some guys who could play that role, but a consistent, starting big man is tough to find. And he’s been a pro in this league. He’s been so consistent. He’s a guy who knows how to play, fits our style well.”

The news went over well back in Georgia. Pachulia, the country’s only active NBA player, is beloved there. Within weeks of the signing, he was spotting No. 27 Warrior jerseys.

“I didn’t know they made them that quick,” he said.

As he wrapped up lunch, Pachulia got a tap on the shoulder. Two fans were hoping for a picture. He obliged, chatted with them briefly and then ducked out the door, laughing once he hit the sidewalk.

“Man, these fans must love basketball here,” he laughed. “I haven’t even played a game for them and they recognize me and want a picture. It’s gonna be a fun year.”

That’s why he signed up.