A 3-Team Trade Idea That Lands Brandon Ingram with Warriors, Wiggins with Blazers
Transactions around the NBA have slowed to a halt entering training camps, and the unofficial start to trade season remains around two-and-a-half-months away.
But!
Plenty of teams still face critical questions that need answers—preferably imminently. And that allows us—perhaps even begs us—to continue thinking about potential moves.
Three of the rosters up against the most pressing inquiries just so happen to hail from the Western Conference.
Can the Golden State Warriors find a way to immediately bolster their ceiling through what's left of the Stephen Curry era without obliterating their future asset base? Do the Portland Trail Blazers have any inkling to clear up their big-man surplus? Are the New Orleans Pelicans ever planning on adding a starting-caliber center to their depth chart? Or figuring out the Brandon Ingram situation?
Now, try this one on for size: Is there a scenario in which all three of these teams are able to help one another?
Let's find out.
The Deal
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Nobody superfluous is being roped in here. Golden State, New Orleans and Portland are all helping each other reorient their rotations and, in at least one case, overarching direction.
Here is what the deal looks, with every player's 2024-25 salary in parentheticals:
Golden State Warriors Receive: Brandon Ingram ($36 million), Jeremiah Robinson-Earl ($2.2 million)
New Orleans Pelicans: Deandre Ayton ($34 million), Moses Moody ($5.8 million), Golden State's 2025 first-rounder (top-eight protection)
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: Andrew Wiggins ($26.3 million), Gary Payton II ($9.1 million)
This is pretty straightforward as far as three-team shenanigans go. But there is still a lot to unpack. So let's go ahead and break it down team by team.
Dubs Swing on Brandon Ingram
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Golden State Receives: Brandon Ingram
Golden State Gives Up: Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, Andrew Wiggins, 2025 first-round pick (top-eight protection)
The Warriors need someone with the present-day apex of "Second-best offensive player on a really good team." Perhaps Jonathan Kuminga or Brandin Podziemski ends up checking that box in due time. Counting on either to do so next season is all sorts of risky.
Granted, so is the acquisition of Ingram. Golden State must firmly believe he's not just a good fit long-term, but one worth paying boatloads of money next summer, when he'll be eligible for a four-year max worth $207.8 million or five-year max worth $269.1 million.
That prospective price tag shouldn't scare the Warriors. They have to worry about paying (the extension-eligible) Jonathan Kuminga, but they theoretically offset most of Ingram's first-year salary in his next deal by jettisoning Wiggins (owed $28.2 million in 2025-26) and Moody (2025 restricted free agent).
A less-than-frothy trade market for BI may also mean he comes cheaper than expected. Scant few teams are slated to have max cap room next year, and the 27-year-old isn't a no-brainer all-in guy even if that changes.
Golden State capitalizes on this divisive valuation here. Wiggins is more plug-and-play, but his contract no longer profiles as a net positive, and Ingram has the much better best-case outcome as a shot-creator and table-setter. The Warriors will require him to be more intuitive with his offensive reads and movement away from the ball. They will also need to resume the age-old tradition of trying to coax more three-point volume out of him. That's not ideal. And success isn't a given.
Still, landing someone like Ingram gives the Dubs more on-ball options to streamline and optimize Stephen Curry's life in the half-court. And the chance to bag a talent like him without forking over Kuminga, Podz or a distant first-rounder is one the front office at least has to mull.
New Orleans Gets a Big Man While Ending Brandon Ingram Conundrum
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New Orleans Receives: Deandre Ayton, Moses Moody, Golden State's 2025 first-round pick (top-eight protection)
New Orleans Gives Up: Brandon Ingram, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
Ending the Ingram saga with Ayton as the primary returning asset is admittedly anti-climactic. But the Pelicans cannot expect to do much better–if they can do better at all. Ingram is likely already on another team if they could.
New Orleans will continue to have longer-term salary issues following this deal. Ayton is on the books for $35.6 million in 2025-26 while Moody, Trey Murphy III and Jose Alvarado will all be up for new deals.
The Pelicans can figure that part out later. And clarity shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Ayton becomes an expiring contract next summer. Ditto for CJ McCollum. It would be more of a (financial) headache having to plan around a multiyear deal for Ingram.
Optimists can hold out hope that Ayton recaptures his 2022 form. We should all operate under the assumption that it's not happening. This includes the Pelicans. And that's OK. They don't need Ayton to carve out a top-10-center arc. They just need him to play defense without gumming up the works on offense.
This looms as a reasonable set of expectations. Ayton has always looked his best when surrounded by upper-echelon creators. He didn't—and still doesn't—have that in Portland. But he quietly cobbled together an intriguing close to last season anyway, and New Orleans has Dejounte Murray and Zion Williamson to help tee him up.
Spacing could be an issue when Ayton shares the floor with Zion. The Pelicans, though, are no stranger to working within tight confines. Zion is such a downhill force that New Orleans doesn't need a caps-lock FLOOR-SPACER next to him at the 5, and Ayton just canned over 50 percent of his mid-range jumpers. Getting him to connect on screens will be the larger concern. The same goes for his rim pressure during stretches without Williamson.
Visions of Ayton anchoring a top-tier defense have long since dissipated. The Pelicans shouldn't care. Herbert Jones is their defensive fulcrum. Between him, Alvarado, Murray and Murphy, New Orleans has the flexibility to use Ayton in both conservative and ultra-aggressive schemes without overtaxing him.
Getting a flier on Moody should not be written off. He typifies the three-and-D mold, with a little more offensive decision-making on the top. The Pelicans can bring him off the bench behind Jones and Murphy, and given how restricted free agency has unfolded the past few years, they needn't worry about an over-the-top offer sheet from outside admirers coming his way next summer.
Picking up an additional first-round pick has obvious utility, too. It's a selection New Orleans can use to seek out upgrades in future trades. And while this deal has the Pelicans taking on immediate money, they'll remain less than $2 million over the luxury-tax line. The front office can broker a tiny salary dump later on in the season to skirt it.
Portland Decongests Its Big Man Glut
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Portland Receives: Gary Payton II, Andrew Wiggins
Portland Gives Up: Deandre Ayton
Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Duop Reath and a healthy Robert Williams III all warrant real playing time. The Blazers won't have enough minutes to go around up front when they're at full strength.
This takes care of that.
First impressions may gravitate toward the money remaining on Wiggins' contract (three years and $84.7 million, with a 2026-27 player option). I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but the two years and $69.6 million left on Ayton's deal is worse. Breaking his salary up into two smaller contracts is a value add, and Wiggins still has stretches in which he looks like a league-average-or-better three-and-D prototype.
Re-acquiring GP2 is a bit awkward given how things ended between the two parties in 2023. Portland can get over it. He comes off the books next summer and becomes a buyout candidate if the team can't use his expiring deal in another trade.
Some might push for the Blazers to receive draft compensation. I can't get there. Moving Ayton shaves money off the top of next year's payroll—nearly $10 million—while immediately opening up developmental reps for Clingan and the opportunity to rehab RW3's internal and external value.
And again, Wiggins may have actual use to this team. Portland has Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle and Deni Avdija, not to mention Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara. But the latter two aren't exactly 3s, and regardless, a surplus of wings is much more manageable, if not outright valuable, than a big-man glut.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations via RealGM.
