Golden State Warriors: Trevor Ariza trade minimally impacts Dubs
The Golden State Warriors avoided having to worry about Trevor Ariza.
Trevor Ariza was once destined for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, he’s on the Washington Wizards, a team he played with earlier on in his career, and the Golden State Warriors should be ecstatic about that.
Ariza to the Lakers wouldn’t make them the Western Conference favorite by any stretch of the imagination.
It would, however, make them slightly more lethal moving forward. It would mainly concern the Warriors because a trade sending Ariza to LA would provide length, defense, and spacing/shooting to one of their only Western Conference challengers.
The trade was put on hold after the teams were confused on the Brooks involved in the original deal. Memphis thought the deal revolved around Marshon Brooks, not Dillon. That confusion canceled out the first trade, making the Grizzlies drop from trade talks.
In the end, the Wizards sent Kelly Oubre Jr. and Austin Rivers to Phoenix for Ariza. This deal makes Phoenix a more intriguing collection of young talent, but it doesn’t impact any contender, as neither Washington or Phoenix are among the league’s top-ten teams.
Trevor Ariza is currently on a one-year, $15 million deal. The deal was meant to bring another veteran playmaker to Phoenix yet backfired when Ariza’s talent didn’t help the Suns flourish. Now, Phoenix will yet again play for the future.
Combine all of this, and the Golden State Warriors come out as winners. As long as a trade making a contender more difficult to defend doesn’t transpire, the Warriors win, and that’s exactly what happened.
The Lakers, on the other hand, clearly want to win now yet also don’t want to plummet their future. Ariza was a solid idea for LA, but the difference between Ariza and Ingram shouldn’t have been enough to warrant a trade.
3 players with expiring contracts the Dubs should trade for. dark. Next
This should just be the start of an active trade market as we near the trade deadline in early February. Will teams make moves to become more competitive with Golden State? That’s still to be determined, but let’s hope not!