Golden State Warriors: Spurs should take bait, trade for top-five pick

If there is one team in a perfect position to move up in the draft, it’s the San Antonio Spurs, and they should take the Golden State Warriors’ bait.

The San Antonio Spurs have been the pinnacle of basketball over the last 15 years. While the Golden State Warriors have had their stint at the top, the Spurs have been one of this generation’s best teams.

This season, they folded, although they’re still not a bottom-three team in the West.

Honestly ever since the loss of Kawhi Leonard, a year and a half ago, the Spurs just haven’t been the same, but they could draft a new up-and-coming Kawhi-type player with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft if they desire to forfeit numerous future picks.

We know the Warriors are up for trading down in the draft, and as it currently is projected, the Spurs will have the 11th overall pick. While that’s not a great pick, it would still result in a player that could immediately contribute to Golden State’s second unit.

The Warriors won’t have Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson forever and are somewhat bound to drafting frontcourt talent until those two start to decline. After all, even if they had a star backcourt player, they likely wouldn’t be a great compliment to Curry and Thompson.

The lack of a need for stardom is one reason the Warriors are open to trading down.

They can give another team the chance at Anthony Edwards, and the Spurs, who haven’t typically make blockbuster trades, should trade their 2020 and 2021 picks for the top the Warriors potentially top-three selection.

Knowing they’ve been and should continue to be consistently strong, the Spurs shouldn’t have any second thought about trading future picks as even a bad Spurs team is traditionally at the bottom of the Western Conference regardless of their roster.

While no rumors of potential trade partners have been reported, the Warriors are without a true superstar talent. Dejounte Murray has developed nicely and players like Derrick White have shown true potential, but neither is even close to matching the stardom that Edwards has been gifted.

Add Edwards to the Spurs and they may not be a title contender next season, but they’ll certainly be in a position to do some major damage in the coming years.