A 4-Team Blockbuster Trade If Golden State Warriors Miss 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament
The Golden State Warriors have some breathing room between themselves and 11th place in the Western Conference standings. But the hard-charging Houston Rockets went 13-2 in March and are suddenly a real threat to keep the Warriors out of the play-in tournament.
The Warriors have the NBA's most expensive roster this season. If they can't even finish in the top 10 in the West, dramatic changes could be in play this offseason.
Klay Thompson is set to be a free agent this summer. The organization could also explore the possibility of moving Draymond Green. Moving one or two members from an impressive young core for a more proven veteran should be on the table, too.
We've come up with a four-team trade that checks more than one of those boxes. It would help the Warriors return to contention for the rest of Stephen Curry's prime, and it loops in another team who could be all in—the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Deal
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As always, before we get to explanations for why each team should entertain this madness, it helps to have a glance at the entire deal in one place.
Golden State Warriors Receive: Karl-Anthony Towns, Rui Hachimura and Garrison Mathews
Golden State Warriors Lose: Draymond Green, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos, a 2026 first-round pick and a top-five-protected 2028 first-round pick
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Draymond Green, D'Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Wendell Moore Jr., a 2029 first-round pick from Los Angeles and a 2031 top-five-protected first-round pick from Los Angeles
Atlanta Hawks Lose: Trae Young, Garrison Mathews and a 2025 second-round pick (via Minnesota)
Minnesota Timberwolves Receive: Austin Reaves, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis, a 2025 second-round pick from Atlanta (via Minnesota), a 2026 first-round pick from Golden State and a top-5 protected 2028 first-round pick from Golden State
Minnesota Timberwolves Lose: Karl-Anthony Towns, Wendell Moore Jr. and Josh Minott
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Trae Young, Josh Minott and Gui Santos
Los Angeles Lakers Lose: Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2029 first-round pick and a top-five-protected 2031 first-round pick
Feel free to quibble over some of the smaller-contract players or picks involved. The core of the deal and the fact that all four teams are connected to the others are most important.
Warriors Move On
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Golden State Warriors Receive: Karl-Anthony Towns, Rui Hachimura and Garrison Mathews
Golden State Warriors Lose: Draymond Green, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos, a 2026 first-round pick and a top-five-protected 2028 first-round pick
This might depend on the Warriors flaming out prior to or during the play-in. But even if they lose in the first round, the front office might have to think about finally turning the page on the Draymond Green era.
Beyond multiple suspensions and ejections during the course of this season, it's also fair to wonder if the Green-Curry-Thompson core has played beyond its title window. Golden State's net rating is solid with the trio of four-time champions on the floor, but it isn't in the range of some of the league's bona fide contenders.
This move might not guarantee the Warriors' return to that tier, but it should get them closer while also making the starting five younger. The Dubs would emerge with a lineup of Curry, Thompson (if they re-sign him) or Brandin Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins (unless they can find another home for him), a floor-spacing 4 in Rui Hachimura and an All-Star center in Karl-Anthony Towns.
It might take some time for Towns to adapt to the Warriors' ball- and player-movement-heavy scheme, but he's shown hints of playmaking ability. Over the four seasons prior to this one, he averaged 4.2 assists per game. And the outside shooting potential of lineups with both Curry and KAT would be off the charts.
At the end of the current group's timeline, it may feel risky to unload a young talent like TJD and multiple first-round picks. But waiting out what's left of Curry's prime is a worse option.
Hawks Get Defensive
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Atlanta Hawks Receive: Draymond Green, D'Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Wendell Moore Jr., a 2029 first-round pick from Los Angeles and a 2031 top-five-protected first-round pick from Los Angeles
Atlanta Hawks Lose: Trae Young, Garrison Mathews and a 2025 second-round pick (via Minnesota)
This trade would depend on the Hawks deciding that Young and Dejounte Murray don't work together. There's plenty of evidence to support that conclusion.
Over their two seasons together, Atlanta is minus-2.4 points per 100 possessions when both are on the floor and plus-0.5 when only one is. Murray has also looked like a star with Young sidelined by a wrist injury as of late. He's putting up 26.1 points, 9.2 assists, 3.6 threes and 1.9 steals per game without Young, and the Hawks are winning his minutes.
Young is the better player, but Murray has proved capable of carrying the team. And Young is likelier to fetch a big haul on the trade market.
The group that would emerge from this deal would likely generate some offensive question marks, but Green, Murray, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu could flip the defensive culture of an Atlanta squad that's in the bottom five on that end of the floor this season.
Plus—and this is perhaps the most important part—it bolsters the Hawks' trove of draft assets with picks that will convey long after LeBron James leaves the Lakers.
Timberwolves Downsize
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Minnesota Timberwolves Receive: Austin Reaves, Chris Paul, Trayce Jackson-Davis, a 2025 second-round pick from Atlanta (via Minnesota), a 2026 first-round pick from Golden State and a top-five-protected 2028 first-round pick from Golden State
Minnesota Timberwolves Lose: Karl-Anthony Towns, Wendell Moore Jr. and Josh Minott
With Minnesota's ownership situation suddenly devolving into a mess, the already unlikely event of the Wolves paying the luxury tax next season feels even more tenuous.
The most obvious potential off-ramp from this scary financial state is a KAT trade.
CP3's $30 million salary makes this deal work for Minnesota under the collective bargaining agreement, but that number has to be guaranteed for the trade to be allowed. He wouldn't provide Minnesota with immediate cap relief, but 2024-25 is the last year of his contract. Towns' salary is bigger, and his contract runs through 2027-28, when he has a $61.0 million player option.
In other words, the Wolves would still be getting long-term financial relief here. And having Austin Reaves in the deal bolsters the team's backcourt depth beyond 2025, when Paul's contract expires.
Elsewhere in the lineup, Naz Reid can slide into KAT's role in the starting five, and the resulting core would revolve more efficiently around Anthony Edwards.
Having Jackson-Davis and a pair of first-round picks helps to make up for some of the assets Minnesota gave up in the Rudy Gobert trade, too.
Lakers Get Their Third Star
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Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Trae Young, Josh Minott and Gui Santos
Los Angeles Lakers Lose: Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2029 first-round pick and a top-5 protected 2031 first-round pick
This is an awful lot to give up for Young, but the Lakers are reportedly interested in pursuing him, and his ceiling is much higher than any of the players they'd be sending out.
Young clearly has defensive issues, but Anthony Davis could help cover up some of those. And over the last five seasons, the Hawks playmaker has averaged 27.2 points, 9.9 assists and 2.8 made threes per game.
He'd take some of the creation and distribution burden off LeBron James and would also give L.A. an identity in the soon-to-come post-LeBron era.
Filling out the supporting cast wouldn't be easy, but a Trae-AD pick-and-roll would be potentially electrifying, both with and without LeBron.
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