5 Potential Trade Destinations For David Lee
The Golden State Warriors, coming off the 2015 NBA championship, have no reason to change a single thing about their roster.
The Dubs joined Michael Jordan‘s Chicago Bulls from 1995-96 and 1996-97 as the only teams in NBA history to win at least 83 games between the regular season and playoffs, and with only Draymond Green being a restricted free agent, this championship team has the power to keep everyone together for another title run next season.
Well, almost everyone.
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Just a day after the Warriors hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that David Lee has more than likely played his last game for the Dubs.
Lee is a fan favorite who took on a team-first role this season to help Golden State win a title, so this is bittersweet news for Warriors fans, especially since he was rewarded for his sacrifice with minutes in the NBA Finals, providing the small-ball revelation at the end of Game 3 that marked the turning point of the series.
However, this is hardly shocking news since Lee is owed $15.5 million in the last year of his contract next season. Lee got his title, now wants to play regular NBA minutes instead of being confined to bench duty. After all he’s given the franchise, the front office will oblige his desire, especially since they don’t want to pay $34 million in luxury tax payments to keep a garbage time player.
The problem will be finding a trade scenario that suits both parties.
From Lee’s perspective, he still has quite a bit to offer an NBA team, which is perfectly true. It was only a year ago that he averaged 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, after all. But his (likely) desire to play for a respectable team could be a problem given his age (32), his poor defense, his inability to spread the floor with a perimeter shot and his inflated contract.
From Golden State’s point of view, they want to be as accommodating as possible for a player who’s given them so much over the years and deserves a happy sendoff to a good situation. But in this kind of salary dump, they don’t want to take on additional salary and it’ll be hard to find a contender with enough cap room to bring Lee on. Depending on the team/deal, they may even need to throw in a future draft pick to sweeten the deal.
Bearing all this in mind (along with next season’s projected salary cap of $67.1 million), it’s time to take a look at the most likely trade destinations for Lee based on fit, cap situation and trade workability. But first, there are a few long-shot honorable mentions that need to be covered.
Next: Honorable Mentions