Ranking Warriors' Top Trade Priorities Entering 2024
The Golden State Warriors can play with anyone.
For better and worse.
They've hung around with the NBA's best of the best at times, but they've also struggled to put away lesser competition at others. Every contest feels like it's a nail-biter, meaning this group hardly ever has a chance to exhale.
They won't win a championship like this. They must be able to summon their best version more frequently, and maybe that means trading for players who can bring it about more often. As they head into the heart of trade season, this is where their priorities should lie.
1. Swing for the Fences
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Stephen Curry still seems capable of being the best player on a championship team.
Now, the Warriors need to find someone who can be second in command on a contender.
It's impossible to rely on Draymond Green when he's so often made himself unavailable. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have had some truly anemic moments. Chris Paul is a support piece at this stage of his career. The young players on this roster have turned heads this season, but not in the way that suggests they're anywhere near ready for that kind of role.
A minor move probably isn't cutting it for this core. Golden State should try taking a big swing and seeing what happens. This roster could be close to having a special season, but only if the front office can make the right kind of upgrade. Drop a Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby or Dejounte Murray onto this roster, and it might rocket up the standings and into the championship conversation.
2. Clean Up the Rotation
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While the Warriors may only have one great player, they have an abundance of solid-to-good ones.
Too many of them, in fact. At full-strength, this roster has no fewer than 12 players deserving of regular floor time, and there just aren't that many minutes to go around. That's left players with smaller workloads than they should be handling and impossible to answer questions about why they aren't seeing more minutes.
"That's where it's confusing," Jonthan Kuminga told Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. "Sometimes, I come out the game not knowing what I did. And that messes with my head. It's like, 'What they want me to do?' I can pass and I can do different s--t."
This roster looks ripe for a consolidation trade. Beyond scratching an itch for star power, a two- or three-for-one trade could help trim this rotation and give players more clarity on their role.
3. Find More Shot-Creation
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Opposing teams typically approach defending the Dubs with one primary focus in mind: Keeping the ball away from Curry.
That's partly due to the fact he's objectively awesome. However, it also reflects some of the shortcomings with this supporting cast.
No one else really threatens opposing defenses off the dribble. Not consistently, anyway. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have at times in the past, but both are shooting below 43 percent from the field. Chris Paul's field-goal percentage has dipped below 40. They aren't winning a lot of one-on-one tussles with conversion rates like this.
While the Warriors can squeeze plenty out of their offensive system and collective IQ, that won't be enough to carry them as deep into the playoffs as they're hoping to go. They have to find more players who can make something out of nothing.
