Golden State Warriors: 5 Potential NBA Trade Deadline Deals
By Ti Windisch
Shooters Shoot, Right?
It’s easy to say that Golden State has enough scorers to not have interest in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ leading scorer, but hear me out. The Warriors’ bench players just aren’t scoring all too much right now.
That problem has been mitigated by staggered lineups that mean at least a few of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are almost always on the floor, but imagine adding another really potent scorer to the fold in the second unit.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors’ best three bench scorers right now are Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and Ian Clark. They combine for 18.1 points per game. Lou Will scores 18.6 per game, on a better three-point percentage than any of the Warriors reserves.
William is scoring that much in just under 25 minutes per game, which is less than Iguodala plays now. Lou Will wouldn’t see as many shots with more Warriors on the floor, unless he had trouble finding the right role with the team.
That’s certainly possible–there’s a chance for any trade to fail if the players involved don’t jell on their new team. But imagine the Warriors with the best starting five in the NBA and the Sixth Man of the Year in Lou Will, plus a new lineup of death featuring Curry, Williams, Thompson, Durant and Green.
Besides fit, the real question about this deal is defense. Would the other three Warriors be able to cover for Curry and Williams up front? Would the additional offense offset any of those concerns?
Either of those questions could go either way, and this deal is far from risk-free, meaning the Warriors probably don’t have much interest in making it. It could be a home run if everything falls the right way, though.