There’s no denying the Golden State Warriors have an opportunity to invest in the future after landing the second pick in the 2020 NBA draft last week. However, in order to win another Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy, they absolutely should trade their pick.
After three titles and five trips to the NBA finals in five consecutive years, the Dubs finished the 2019-20 season with the worst record in the NBA, going 15-50 which translated to the second overall pick.
With the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, out for the season with injuries, the Warriors struggled to maintain their championship form. Preseason acquisition D’Angelo Russell scored in abundance but it didn’t translate to wins and was traded later in the season for Andrew Wiggins and a 2021 first-round pick.
However, even after a horrendous losing season, the Warriors could immediately be back in title contention next season when the Splash Brothers return if the front office surrounds them with the right players.
Now with a valuable asset in a high draft pick in their back pocket, the Warriors can now retool the squad and add players to complement the championship-proven core of Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green.
If Warriors fans took anything away from this shortened 2019-20 season it's that the team has several needs that could also be addressed if they trade the pick instead of drafting one player.
One trade route the team could go is to package the second pick and Wiggins for solid bench players that can contribute right away.
After the departures of players such as Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell, the Warriors ranked 24 out of 30 in bench production this season, according to hoopstats.com.
However, the ideal scenario for the Warriors is to trade the draft pick for another starter that can help fill the void left by Kevin Durant. Wiggins can be a solid contributor, but for the money he’s being paid, over $30 million per year for the next three years, it’s not worth keeping him.
Instead, the Warriors could trade for someone like Kevin Love from the Cleveland Cavaliers who has championship experience and is still playing at a high level averaging a double-double. Love would fit in perfectly as he could be another shooter for the Warriors and could be used in head coach Steve Kerr’s “death lineup” with Green and Love in the frontcourt.
The money also works as Love’s contract is similar to Wiggins’ and the Warriors can still use their $17.2 million trade exception from Iguodala’s departure.
Going into the NBA draft on Oct.16, the mentality should be to win now instead of invest in the future, meaning, the Warriors should not gamble on a rookie to get back to the top of the NBA mountain.
This year’s top draft prospects, Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman, are all talented but none stand out as the single must-have player like Zion Williamson or Lebron James in past NBA drafts.
The current stars on the Warriors are all in their prime and ready to gear up for more championship runs and don’t have time to help develop a young rookie.
Let’s be honest, a college athlete or an overseas prospect won’t make the difference for the Warriors in the dense Western Conference.
The goal is to win championships, not gamble on the future.
