The NBA trade deadline is just days away, and the Warriors are expected to make some moves.
Sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference with a 19-24 record, it’s clear that change is needed for Golden State, but what that change could look like hasn’t been as evident. However, The Athletic’s Shams Charania provided a little bit of clarity about the Warriors’ trade deadline approach Monday morning.
“The Warriors are on the other end of the stick. They’ve lost six of eight games,” Charania said on FanDuel’s “Run It Back.” “We’ve talked about it. Everyone is on the table except for Steph Curry. So when you think about it, realistically, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Poziemski, those are two guys that they’re high on [and] they want to keep long term. They view [them] as part of their core moving forward.
“They’re going to take calls on Andrew Wiggins, Chris Paul, and could they get interest on a guy even like Klay Thompson? I think those are very much open conversations for the Warriors. They have to be open-minded. This is a team that’s five games under 500, in that 12th spot. So we’ll see if there’s going to be any moves over the next 10 days.”
While Wiggins and Paul have been tied to various trade rumors in recent weeks, Thompson being included could come as a surprise to some.
Thompson has played his entire NBA career with the Warriors and has openly stated he would love to retire with the organization that drafted him with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
The Splash Bro struggled through an inconsistent start to the season, but has responded with glimpses of his old self in recent games. The 33-year-old is averaging 17.6 points on 42.1-percent shooting from the field and 38.5 percent from 3, with 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 42 games.
Meanwhile, Wiggins’ early-season struggles haven’t completely faded away. Wiggins is averaging career lows nearly across the board, with 12.3 points on 43.4-percent shooting from the field and 31 percent from deep, along with 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 39 games.
His struggles resulted in him losing his spot in the starting lineup at one point of the season as Warriors coach Steve Kerr experimented with different lineups to try and find a solution.
While the Warriors have been playing better basketball as a team, they’ve been on the wrong side of close, down-to-the-wire matchups and blown too many leads.
For now, this is all just speculation, but the Warriors need to make major adjustments if they hope to re-enter the NBA playoff picture. And the clock is ticking.
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