Golden State Warriors: 4 reasons to trade/not trade JaVale McGee

Reason to keep: Injuries have been problematic

When the McGee trade rumors first came up, I understood the situation completely and had absolutely no doubt that he would be dealt by the trade deadline.

That all changed when I watched Jordan Bell go down with a sprained ankle in the opening minutes of Golden State’s game against the Chicago Bulls.

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Put simply, the basketball gods have not been kind to the Warriors this season. Probably the worse instance of the injury bug biting the Dubs at the worst possible time: Stephen Curry missed several games due to multiple ankle tweaks.

The Warriors have had a couple other random injuries here and there to guys like Zaza Pachulia, and both Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala have continued to linger on the injury list.

Patterns like this doesn’t exactly make me confident in their long-term status, and I’d probably add 37-year-old David West to that list, as well.

Any injuries in the frontcourt would immediately open the door for McGee, and this recent injury to Bull certainly qualifies. As unfortunate as the Bell injury may be, the fact of the matter is that McGee could possibly see a jump in minutes in Bell’s absence — as long as Kevon Looney doesn’t take those minutes first.