NBA Draft Trade Rumors: Why Wilson Chandler for the No. 7 Pick Is a Mistake

The Warriors are desperately in need of a young small forward of the future. As the NBA Draft nears, it is becoming increasingly clear that Harrison Barnes and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will both be off the board by the time the Warriors pick at No. 7.

Instead of looking to take Dion Waiters, John Henson or even Andre Drummond if he slips, the Warriors are exploring trading their pick entirely.

Chris Broussard recently tweeted:

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Lots of teams calling Denver to trade for Nuggets' young players. 1of several moves being discussed: Wil[son] Chandler to G[olden] State for 7th pick.

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Keep in mind, this trade would require for Dorell Wright to be traded to the Nuggets so that the salaries match up.

Golden State would be crazy to accept such a deal. While Chandler has been a solid player on both the Knicks and the Nuggets, he is definitely not worth the No. 7 pick.

In addition, he just signed a 5 year, $37 million dollar deal, meaning that the Warriors would lose even more salary cap flexibility.

As evident from this past season, the Warriors are not nearly deep enough to contend in the rugged West, as they struggled without Stephen Curry and were without Andrew Bogut due to injury.

Trading for Chandler signals that Golden State management think that this team is only a few steps away from being a contender and possibly making the playoffs.

This is where they are completely wrong.

A starting lineup of Curry-Thompson-Chandler-Lee-Bogut is solid, but there is no bench depth on this roster. In addition, this team is still mediocre defensively, with Curry and Bogut as the team's best defenders.

Don't get me wrong, if Luol Deng was substituted instead of Wilson Chandler, the Warriors should definitely take the deal.

Deng is an elite perimeter defender who has an above-average offensive repertoire. However, being locked in for five years with Chandler does not put the Warriors that much closer to making the playoffs.