NBA Draft: The 3 best landing spots for LaMelo Ball

3. Golden State Warriors

On the surface, this doesn’t look like a great fit for Ball, but there’s a lot to like here if you dig a little deeper. Stephen Curry is obviously the guy for the Golden State Warriors, but he won’t be around forever. At 32 he is still in his prime, and as a result of his contract, he isn’t likely to be traded either. Not that the Warriors would do that, as fans would likely riot.

But once Curry has made $43 million next season, and $45 million the year after that, he will be an unrestricted free agent. You’d be pretty confident he’ll finish his career in San Francisco, but two years of taking Ball under his wing would be invaluable to both the player and the organization.

Then Curry could re-sign with the Warriors, only to come off the bench as a 20-year-old Ball took over as the starter. Sound a bit too convenient? That’s because it probably is, although there is no question that replacing Curry is going to be a huge task whenever that time comes. So why not get ahead of trying to do so? It has to be better than moving the pick altogether, right?

It is an anomaly that the Warriors are going to have what could amount to the first overall pick as a result of injuries to Curry and Klay Thompson, and the departure of Kevin Durant. They shouldn’t be in this position, and yet they are at a time when a young player like Ball with similar range to Curry is available.

The front office knows how to build around a slight player with unlimited range like Curry. They practically changed the game when they did that the first time around. So why not try and repeat the trick again and see what happens? Curry became a good defender over time and Ball would have to as well, but this puts Ball in a championship culture environment, knowing that he doesn’t have to produce right away while he learns from a future Hall of Fame player in Curry.