Report: NBA Teams 'Terrified' of Warriors Landing High 2020 1st-Round Draft Pick
The Golden State Warriors are the worst team in the NBA at 4-19, but they are still feared.
NBC Sports' Tom Haberstroh provided insight on how teams around the league still view the Warriors during the team's 106-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night on NBC Sports Bay Area:
"The people I talk to around the league are really worried they are going to trade that first-round pick, the 2020 pick, because if they load up with an All-Star-type player with that pick, they are terrified. Or if they land a Luka Doncic in the draft, they're terrified. So that 2020 pick, adding to the group they have established here with [Eric] Paschall stepping in right away, man, I think every team is going to try to do a gap year."
Haberstroh also noted the Warriors "will have a taxpayer exception worth around $17 million and a taxpayer mid-level exception that they can use to sign established NBA players."
The reason for the fear is likely the players set to return for the Warriors in 2020.
All-Star guard Klay Thompson has been out of commission since tearing his ACL during last season's NBA Finals. Head coach Steve Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area on Tuesday that "it's unlikely" Thompson will play at all this season.
That loss was compounded when two-time league MVP Stephen Curry suffered a broken hand Oct. 30. The 31-year-old point guard told reporters Nov. 11 that he expects to play again "at some point in early spring."
Point guard D'Angelo Russell, who landed with the Warriors in a sign-and-trade last summer, played Wednesday for the first time since Nov. 15 after spraining a thumb.
All-Star forward Draymond Green also missed five games to begin November with a torn ligament in the index finger on his left hand.
Kerr told reporters Nov. 11:
"What we're trying to do this year is build for the future. Obviously, Steph and Klay are part of the core, the core group, along with Draymond, in terms of what we want to accomplish long-term.
"So the idea of bringing some of these young guys along and helping them to be able to be part of the core going forward, that means they need to play together. All those guys need to play together."
As Haberstroh mentioned, Paschall has been a pleasant surprise while the core Warriors heal. The rookie second-round pick has averaged 17.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists across 22 games (16 starts).
Should the Warriors land a player of Paschall's caliber or even better in the 2020 draft to pair with healthy versions of Curry, Green and Thompson, they could quickly return to contention just a year removed from the end of a run that saw them appear in five straight NBA Finals and win three of them.
