The Golden State Warriors have had a disappointing start to the 2023-24 season. After making several moves this offseason to be contenders again, they are currently the 11 seed in the west (11-14). There’s still a long season ahead which means that the Warriors need to be Buyers ahead of the trade deadline. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, they have been fielding calls from teams who appear to be sellers.
“I know a few general managers who lobbed calls to Mike Dunleavy Jr. in the last few days,” Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown on Friday (3:07 mark). “And a lot of teams are starting to talk, they’re starting to trade ideas about what interest they have in certain players.”
Woj believes that the trade deadline is setting up to be a busy one and that the Warriors may be at the heart of it. There will obviously be some young teams looking to move off of their veterans, but also some mid-tier teams looking to make deals. The Warriors will be looking to get back in the playoff picture and they have some young players that teams may want. If young guards like Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski are available, it’ll make a trade with the Warriors appealing.
“This is going to be an interesting trade deadline. I think there’s so many teams right now who think they’re in position to be pretty good,” Wojnarowski said. “And then the teams who are at the bottom of the standings, they’re going to put a great premium on giving up some of their players, because they don’t want to look like Detroit looks right now, they don’t want to look like San Antonio does. I think the asking price for good players at this trade deadline, like often, is going to be high, but I think Mike Dunleavy and Golden State, I think they’re going to be very open to try and improve this team.”
The Warriors are in an interesting situation. Stephen Curry is still playing at an elite level, but his career may be dwindling as well. Not because he’s seeing any struggles, but because his age is getting up there (35). He won’t be able to play at an elite level forever. It appears that age and injuries may be catching up to backcourt mate Klay Thompson already
The Warriors need to be buyers on the big-man market. They’ll be without Draymond Green for a while due to his suspension. However, even before that they needed more presence with big men. It’s been something they lack for several seasons now. Out of all the players that receive a valuable amount of minutes Dario Saric (6-foot-10) and Kevon Looney (6-foot-9) are the only players over 6-foot-7.
Potential Targets for the Warriors
The Chicago Bulls are likely to be sellers with how things are going. It’s unclear if they plan to trade Vucevic but a call to the Bulls to gauge interest wouldn’t hurt. The former all-star could provide both scoring and rebounding. The Warriors were linked to Vucevic last season before the Bulls agreed to an extension with him this offseason. It’s been rumored though, that the Bulls are looking to blow things up so there could be some interest in moving every piece.
This one may be a little harder for the Warriors, they don’t really have the pieces that the Raptors would want in return. The addition though would give the Warriors another scoring threat. He’s not as good of a rebounder as Vucevic but still provides some valuable numbers there as well.
Perhaps, the Warriors don’t want to trade their young players. As I said, the time to rebuild is around the corner with Curry, Thompson and Green aging. If they don’t, Howard would be a good option for the Warriors who may look to be buyers. The Warriors tested him out earlier this season and he’s currently playing overseas. The Warriors could probably sign him on a veteran minimum contract.
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