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With just over four weeks until the NBA trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors have some big decisions to make in regards to their young core and their chances of winning another title.
The 2022-23 NBA season has been very rocky for the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, but they have also had to face a ton of adversity in regards to injuries.
Andrew Wiggins has missed a total of 17 games this season, Stephen Curry has missed 14 games, JaMychal Green has missed 12 games and so many other key players like Jonathan Kuminga, James Wiseman and Donte DiVincenzo have missed games here-and-there.
Finally having Wiggins back on the floor and Curry returning on Tuesday night, the Warriors should begin to look like the team many expected them to be at the beginning of the year, but being 20-20 right at the halfway point in the season is not necessarily what general manager Bob Myers and the team’s front-office envisioned.
The NBA trade deadline is just over four weeks away and as a result, the Warriors have some huge, potentially franchise-altering decisions to make.
Can Golden State still compete for a title this season with the talent they have on their roster? Will the front-office look to sacrifice a portion of the team’s youth in order to add another win-now piece? Can Bob Myers still effectively work out his “two-timeline plan” with the young core of this team and the championship core?
These are all valid questions that are being brought up right now pertaining to the Warriors and they definitely put the spotlight on this franchise trending towards the trade deadline.
So what should we expect to see from the Warriors ahead of the deadline this season?
As things stand right now, the Golden State Warriors are not actively involved in trade discussions around the league and they are not showing a willingness to move on from young, recent first-round picks such as James Wiseman or Moses Moody, sources told Fastbreak on FanNation.
While it is possible that the front-office could have a change of heart as the deadline nears closer, the Warriors are more than willing to bet on themselves right now and contend for a title with the talent they have.
On a recent episode of The Fast Break Podcast, C.J. Holmes of the San Francisco Chronicle discussed what he has heard in regards to the Warriors’ plans ahead of the trade deadline and why Bob Myers’ is confident in his plan.
“Based on what I am hearing, I don’t envision them making any moves. I don’t think they are ready to give up on James Wiseman yet,” Holmes said. “They have seen the slow progress he has made and Bob Myers’ two-timeline plan is still alive and well. They are riding this thing out.
“Wiseman is only 21-years-old and they know that they have him in one of the best player development systems in the league. I think come playoff time, Wiseman is going to be a factor. [Moses] Moody is always ready as well. These [Stephen] Curry and [Andrew] Wiggins injuries might have been a blessing in disguise because it gave the Warriors a chance to really see what they have. Bob and Steve [Kerr] really have to ask themselves if they want to mess with the success this team has been having and I think the answer is clearly no.”
Having the highest payroll in the league once again, the Warriors do not have much room to operate and they would have to find a way to basically match salaries in any deal they would make ahead of the trade deadline.
While it is not impossible to do, diving deeper into the luxury tax is not something the Warriors necessarily want to do right now and already having two new contract extensions from this summer with Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole, adding another player at the deadline who would be up for a contract extension in the summer would not be ideal for this franchise.
James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Patrick Baldwin Jr. are all still very young prospects in this league that need time to grow, but a couple of years down the road, they may very well represent the championship future the Warriors have when Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green begin nearing the end of the line in their respective careers.
The Warriors’ front-office knows how to build a championship contending team via the NBA Draft and they truly believe that Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody and Baldwin Jr. can be the future faces of this franchise.
Be sure to catch up on the newest episode of The Fast Break Podcast hosted by Fastbreak’s own Brett Siegel!
Streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, The Fast Break Podcast takes you inside the league with the latest news, intel, rumors and interviews from those close to the action for all 30 teams. Be on the lookout for a new episodes every Friday.