NBA Trade Rumors: Warriors Think Flexibility Will Be 'Major Weapon' at 2025 Deadline

The Golden State Warriors reportedly believe they are in a strong position to make a significant trade during the 2024-25 NBA season if the opportunity arises.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, people within the Warriors organization feel their "transactional flexibility will be a major weapon" in terms of accommodating a blockbuster deal.

Slater noted that the Warriors have most of their future first-round picks and some promising, young players in addition to "several midlevel contracts" that should make it easier for them to match salaries in a trade.

Slater noted that the Warriors were in on both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen earlier this offseason in hopes of pairing one of them with superstar guard Stephen Curry, but neither move came to fruition.

George ended up signing a four-year, $211.58 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, while Markkanen re-signed with the Utah Jazz on a four-year, $195.8 million contract extension.

That left the Warriors to make more minor moves by comparison, such as trading for Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson, and signing De'Anthony Melton.

While none of them are stars, they should add solid depth around a core of Curry, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins, plus it will allow Golden State to rely more on some of its up-and-coming players.

Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Moses Moody all had important roles last season for a Warriors team that went 46-36.

With Klay Thompson leaving for the Dallas Mavericks in free agency, many more opportunities should be available to them during the upcoming season, and the expectation is that all of them will take a step forward.

If that happens, it is possible the Warriors already have enough on their roster to be a playoff team, but if things don't come together quite so conveniently, all of them could be valuable trade pieces.

Slater noted that the Warriors aren't currently looking to give Kuminga a maximum contract extension despite him coming off a career year during which he averaged 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

It was pointed out that signing Kuminga to a big contract could take away some of the Warriors' flexibility, which seems to be something they value heavily entering the season.

While the Warriors would perhaps feel better about their chances entering 2024-25 with a second star to support Curry, few teams have the quality and depth of trade pieces they do to potentially make a big move happen before the trade deadline.