Warriors Trade Rumors: 'Noise' of Increased Willingness for GS to Move Young Players

As the Golden State Warriors continue to hover around the .500 mark after winning last season's NBA title, there are growing whispers that the team might be proactive in an effort to bolster its roster ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic: "The noise around the league the last couple of days is an increased willingness from the Warriors to engage in conversation and explore the idea of moving their younger, out-of-the-rotation players if a significant enough upgrade is offered. There's a greater whiff of aggressiveness."

The players to point toward in such a scenario are James Wiseman and Moses Moody and possibly Jonathan Kuminga.

Barring a star coming the Warriors' way in return, Kuminga likely isn't going anywhere. The 20-year-old is establishing himself as a solid two-way player off the bench, averaging 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 19.4 minutes per game. Since Jan. 20, he has made four starts and averaged 12.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 22.2 minutes over nine games.

Wiseman, 21, has struggled to make an impact with the Warriors (28-26) since becoming the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft. In 21 games in an injury-hampered season, Wiseman has averaged 6.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in just 12.5 minutes.

Injuries have been the primary storyline of Wiseman's career, as he missed the end of 2020-21 and all of last season with a torn right meniscus. There's no doubt he has tantalizing athleticism and upside, but it hasn't manifested.

The 20-year-old Moody has equally struggled, averaging 5.0 points in 14.7 minutes per game.

Slater noted that teams have inquired about Wiseman and Moody, hoping to get them on the cheap given their lack of on-court impact. He added that "in recent days, as the conversations league-wide progressively turn more practical, the conceptual deals coming the Warriors' direction have increased enough to believe something might actually materialize before the buzzer."

Perhaps. Draymond Green said this year's deadline may be quiet, however.

"If I'm being honest, it feels like one of those deadlines where everyone is expecting everything to go haywire and not much is going to happen [across the league]," he told Slater. "That's what I think is going to happen. For me, I'm in this locker room with these guys I play with. We've never been a team that moves much at the trade deadline. So I'm not going into this deadline expecting some big moves or something."