NBA Trade Scenarios: Speculative Post-Lockout Deals the Warriors Could Make

By now, we should have seen players change teams, trades changing the landscape of franchises and something other than baseball on ESPN.

However, with the NBA lockout making this next NBA season look as grim as the refs', from the US-Brazil Women's World Cup match, remaining careers.

Hopefully, the season will be back on sooner than later, in the meantime what else do NBA fans have but to speculate and play G.M.?

With the tens of thousands of NBA trade rumors seemingly being dreamed up, a few more couldn't really hurt anyone.

Here are some trades that the Golden State Warriors could be looking to when and if lockout comes to an end. That is if half of these players aren't playing in Europe by then.

1. Andris Biedrins and Dorell Wright for Andre Iguodala

Would it surprise you that if Klay Thompson got exactly the same minutes as Dorell Wright did last year that he would put up similar numbers?

Wright's name hasn't come up at all in any trade rumors, but Wright's trade value will never be higher than it is right now.

With two years and around $9 million left on his deal, why not trade him now? He will be going into a contract year after this year and do you really want to be paying him big free-agent dollars in two years?

With the Warriors presumably deeper than last year, he shouldn't be playing close to 40 minutes a game again either, so his numbers should go down.

If the Philadelphia 76ers are that desperate to move Iguodala, why not offer them Wright, which would seemingly give the Sixers their first real three-point threat since the three-point line was introduced and Biedrins who could thrive (well at least play better) with a player like Elton Brand down low.

The Warriors get a defender alongside Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry and have Thompson to ease the pain of the scoring punch they lose by dealing Wright.

2. Monta Ellis for Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks and Anthony Morrow

This would be something to look at by both sides.

New Jersey is in a state where they are going for Dwight Howard or endless years of lottery picks. If Howard doesn't come on board, Deron Williams is likely to bolt and where would that leave them?

Trading for Ellis should make Williams happy, and with those two on the team, it might make the Nets appealing enough to get Dwight Howard to come with them to Brooklyn.

For the Warriors, it gives them the big man they need, and Lopez would have to be more comfortable playing close to home. Anthony Morrow played well in Oakland but got lost in New Jersey.

Maybe a trip back would get him back on track, and his contract isn't detrimental. Brooks is a homeless man's Monta Ellis right now but with the potential to become a poor man's Ellis. He would provide a great scoring punch for the backcourt—and maybe develop into something more.

If both of these trades were to happen, the Warriors would be looking at a lineup of:

C- Brook Lopez

PF- David Lee

SF- Andre Iguodala

SG- Anthony Morrow

PG- Stephen Curry

Bench- Thompson, Brooks, Charles Jenkins, Ekpe Udoh, Reggie Williams; add a couple pieces in free agency and that is quite an intriguing team. 

3. Monta Ellis and Charlie Bell for Rudy Gay and Ishmael Smith

If the Warriors end up trading Ellis getting a player like Rudy Gay would be ideal.

Gay was really coming into “star” status before getting hurt, and with the way the Memphis Grizzlies played without him, one could say they wouldn’t miss him all that much.

Gay would fit in nicely at small forward, and the Warriors could move Wright to shooting guard giving them a more prototypical starting five.

For Memphis, getting a homegrown star in Ellis would be great for ticket sales; it’s not like the Fed Ex Forum was packed during the regular season.

Assuming they re-sign Marc Gasol, they would be losing nothing from a team that won a playoff series against a No. 1 seed and adding an elite scorer in Ellis could put them in the Western Conference finals. 

4. Monta Ellis for Andre Iguodala

Have you heard of this rumor?

This is why the lockout needs to end ASAP, just so we never have to hear about this deal again unless it happens.

Get in a room and don't leave until you agree on something. Bring in some intermediaries, something, let's get this going!

5. Andris Biedrins for Jordan Hill and Haseen Thabeet

In a league that is going in to cost-cutting form, reducing salaries and salary cap numbers, the Warriors were given a chance to shed one of their, and the one of the league's worst, contracts, and they turned it down?

Sure, Hill and Thabbet are both stiffs, but getting rid of $27 million and freeing up money in what will become a new way of spending in the NBA, I think you have to make that deal.

Even if Biedrins plays well, which is a big if, the Warriors wouldn't really miss him that much. With him gone, the offense would have a better flow, and it's not like whatever he brought to the team couldn't be replaced.

Go get a Joel Przybilla, Shelden Williams, Theo Ratliff or even Etan Thomas to fill the gap for just one year and free up money for a tremendous 2012 free-agent class. How much would you really lose by having a Sheldon Williams type (big stiff) replace Biedrins (stiff) for one year?

Or use the money you would be saving to overpay Nene or Tyson Chandler to pry them to the Bay. Or get another big name that isn't Greg Oden.

6. Any Combination to Get Dwight Howard

The trade that would make most sense would be Ellis and Lee for Dwight Howard and J.J. Redick and throw in Wright if you had to.

If a player like Howard is available and you have been to the playoffs one time in 17 years and there is even the slightest chance he would sign an extension to stay in the Bay Area, you have try to make it happen.

I would make every player available without trading Curry and Ellis in the deal. 

7. Curry, Lee, Biedrins, Wright, for Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza

Kind of a fantasy basketball trade, and the Warriors would have to throw in Charlie Bell to make it work, but it does bring Chris Paul to the Bay Area in the same backcourt with Ellis to form the best backcourt in the NBA.

It would make sense for New Orleans to, rather than lose Paul for nothing and for a team that is trying to cut money, trade Biedrins in that Houston Rockets deal and have Curry and Lee with Wright to build around.

This deal would give the Warriors one of the best point guards in the league and the center they have been searching for all these years. Getting another post player in free agency would be a must though.

Whether or not this trade would ever happen is questionable at best, but how many trades get both teams to improve their projected win total on ESPN"s trade machine?

If Mark Jackson really wants defense, then he would definitely get it here. If Chris Paul could get the Hornets to win two playoff games against the L. A. Lakers, bringing Okafer along with him to Golden State to join Ellis would get the Warriors in the playoff picture.

8. No Deals

The Warriors more than likely will be heading into next season with the same roster they have, plus a few new players through free agency, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Mark Jackson seems to be chomping at the bit to coach Monta Ellis, so why not give him the chance to do so.

Especially if we are facing a shortened season (most likely), it is going to be hard enough to get the same players from last year on the same page let alone trading key players and bringing in a bunch of new faces. 

Give this squad at least a half season to play under Jackson to see what he can do.