Ranking Warriors' Top Trade Targets After 2025 NBA Playoff Loss
The Golden State Warriors met their baseline goal for the 2024-25 NBA season: playing meaningful postseason games.
Unfortunately, not enough of those big-stage showings went their way. While their experience helped them navigate their way past the young but unproven Houston Rockets, an untimely injury to Stephen Curry and a subsequent lack of scoring support around Jimmy Butler spelled their second-round demise against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, Golden State trudges toward an uncertain offseason where significant changes could be made to this roster. And, no, that's not only a reference to the extremely uncertain restricted free agency of Jonathan Kuminga.
The Dubs might see the ticking time clock attached to Curry as motivation to make major moves around him. While they don't have the Association's richest asset collection, they do have enough to pursue substantial upgrades. The following three players should top their shopping list.
3. Sam Hauser, Boston Celtics
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If the Warriors forge ahead around the trio of Curry, Butler and Draymond Green, they can reasonably expect a multitude of open shots for their role players. They just need those role players to convert those looks at a higher clip.
That's why they could set their sights on Hauser, who has shot better than 41 percent from the perimeter in each of his first four seasons.
Normally, that might make him a must-have on a contending club like the Celtics. But Boston might have to cut costs to try ducking—or at least lessening—the punitive restrictions placed on the league's biggest spenders under the collective bargaining agreement. Plus, the Celtics aren't exactly top-shelf contenders anymore with Jayson Tatum having suffered a torn Achilles.
If Hauser could be had, the Warriors would have to give him strong consideration. Beyond being a decorated shooter from distance, he's also a reliable team defender who has firsthand knowledge of what is required to win at this league's highest level.
2. Daniel Gafford, Dallas Mavericks
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The Warriors squeezed everything they could out of small-ball lineups featuring Green at the 5, but they were too often physically overmatched against the bigger frontcourts in Houston and Minnesota.
Should the Warriors try attacking this issue, they'll either seek out another stretch center (Quinten Post was hugely helpful when making shots but unplayable when he wasn't) or a bouncy big who can crush lob passes and protect the paint at the other end. Gafford could ace the latter role.
He does exactly what you'd expect a rim-runner to do. His field-goal percentage has crested 70 for three seasons in a row, and he's had a top-10 blocks average each of the past two seasons despite averaging fewer than 25 minutes a night.
He could give Golden State a different dimension on the interior, and he may not be too cost-prohibitive to get given all the frontcourt minutes the Mavericks seemingly have set aside for Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II.
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
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If the Bucks wind up holding an Antetokounmpo sweepstakes this summer, the Warriors probably won't put the best offer on the table. Given their long-held interest in the two-time MVP, though, they'll almost certainly make an effort to acquire him.
And who knows, maybe Antetokounmpo shares a preference for landing in Golden State due to the mutual admiration he shares with Curry. It's also possible the Warriors' offer will be more appealing than it first appears.
While they can't fork over draft picks like the Oklahoma City Thunder or offer a batch of intriguing prospects like the Rockets, they can send back an immediate-impact player like Green or even Butler (plus some picks and prospects). And maybe that matters to Milwaukee, which isn't set up to spiral into a rebuild since it lacks control of its next six first-round picks.
This is the dreamiest kind of wishful thinking, sure, but teams who aren't dreaming big in the offseason aren't doing it right. The Dubs might need another difference-maker to give Curry one last shot at adding to his championship jewelry collection, and Antetokounmpo remains one of the brightest stars in the basketball universe.
