Golden State Warriors potential draft pick trade makes too much sense

The Golden State Warriors may trade their first-round pick, and it almost makes too much sense not to do if there is a suitor out there that would pay their asking price, which likely won’t be unreasonable.

The thought process for Golden State is simple — the Warriors just have too many young players to incorporate into their rotation and too few minutes to do so. They need to focus on their current youth.

The Golden State Warriors may trade their first-round pick, and given their current roster, it makes almost too much sense for them not to do.

They might as well trade the pick to next year’s draft and continue with the roster they have, although retaining their key rotational players could be more difficult than it seems. Trading out of the first round seems like something Golden State is highly considering.

Per Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo, the Warriors may look to deal the No. 28 overall selection.

“Sources say the Warriors are working to trade this pick, considering their hefty payroll and the need to integrate James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody into the rotation next season,” Woo wrote.

While reporting that, he also noted that Milwaukee forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. makes sense for the Warriors if they retain the pick. This draft hasn’t appeared as deep in the past, and it may not produce a Jordan Poole-like talent deep in the first round.

The Warriors are coming off an NBA Championship, and they’ll need to incorporate Kuminga, Moody, and Wiseman, all of which should play together for the first time during the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League.

Consistently getting those three minutes while also on a quest to repeat as NBA Champions could be difficult for head coach Steve Kerr.

Those three and Jordan Poole seem like the future of the franchise. Combine that with the Big 3 and then a plethora of veterans, and it doesn’t seem like Golden State will have many minutes left for an up-and-coming talent.

Now, at the same time, they do have two-way contracts, summer league, and their G-League affiliate to get players minutes, and adding another high-risk player could be in store if they can’t find a team willing to take the No. 28 selection off their hands.

Duke guard Wendell Moore could be another name to keep an eye on.

That said, teams like Orlando and Minnesota, both of which have several second-round picks, could trade up as Golden State may be looking to find more valuable picks in future drafts or allow second-round selections to continue playing overseas until truly NBA ready.

Both avenues make sense if the Warriors are wanting to part ways with their first-round pick.