Golden State Warriors: 5 Potential Trade Targets

Honorable Mention: New Orleans Pelicans

Full disclosure: Any trade the Warriors would make at the deadline would more than likely involve Jason Thompson and a future draft pick. It’s really the only way the Dubs could put together a decent trade package for a role player without giving up a part of their rotation, though we should note the Dubs can’t trade their first-rounder again until 2019.

Thompson has only been in Oakland for a few months and has played a grand total of 168 minutes in 25 games. Trading someone so new to the team probably wouldn’t ruffle any feathers in the locker room and though the Warriors’ success has been built through the draft, at some point they won’t have room for more late first round draft selections.

If there were ever a time to trade future draft picks and stymie the influx of future talent by preserving the team’s core, it’s now. In that spirit, is it wrong to wonder what stretch-4 and Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner Ryan Anderson might look like playing for a team like the Warriors?

Anderson is averaging 17.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season, leading all bench players in scoring and converting 39.2 percent of his 5.5 three-point attempts per game. The Dubs wouldn’t need him to contribute as much as he does for the New Orleans Pelicans, but can you imagine opposing defenses having to worry about RyNo spreading the floor off the bench?

Though he’s a poor defender, Anderson would be playing for a top-five defense that could help mitigate his shortcomings on that end. The spacing and three-point shooting would far outweigh those flaws, especially playing for one of the most experienced benches in the NBA.

Thompson’s salary ($7 million) matches up close enough with Anderson’s contract ($8.5 million) to get the deal done, so the only matter from there would be how many future draft picks the Dubs would have to throw in to make it worth New Orleans’ while.

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On the one hand, Anderson is having a career year and has been NOLA’s second best player. On the other, he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, and the Pelicans could either lose him for nothing, or overpay to retain his services by re-signing him to a max-level deal. Both reasons give the Pellies incentive to cash in on his value now.

Thompson and the remaining two years on his salary do nothing for the Pelicans, but if the team wises up and takes the tanking path rather than continue down this painful road where the best-case scenario is a first round playoff exit, dealing Anderson now and snagging one or two future draft picks wouldn’t be a bad course of action.

The Dubs would get their sharpshooter without having to give up a single piece of the rotation, and unless the Pelicans demanded two future first-rounders, the Dubs would be able to come to some sort of fair balance with one future first and one/two future second round picks.

However, the Pelicans may just continue down this stubborn path of trying to make the playoffs, which would make Anderson off limits. Even if they didn’t, a 2019 future rounder hardly helps their situation now, and they’d likely get better offers for Anderson than this unless Golden State included a 2021 first. Two future firsts might be a deal breaker for the Warriors anyway, so this amounts to a pipe dream.

Next: No. 5