Golden State Warriors link with Raptors wing is completely nonsensical

The Golden State Warriors found some form on Friday night, controlling their home floor from the tip in a 111-101 win over the New York Knicks. However, it was the link to a Toronto Raptors wing that quickly did the rounds across social media earlier in the day.

Gary Trent Jr has averaged 16.6 points for the Raptors this season, though his efficiency has been suspect with just 41.5% from the field and 32.6% from three-point range. A link to the Warriors comes completely out of the blue, and how much stock can we really put in it?

While Toronto Raptors wing Gary Trent Jr. would be a nice addition for the right price, his contract makes a potential deal completely nonsensical for the Golden State Warriors.

While social media may have told you the Warriors were reportedly interested in Trent, this appears like nothing more than a mere suggestion that ultimately grew like wildfire. It seems like the original source, Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney, was simply brainstorming trade ideas for Warriors center James Wiseman.

"“The likes of Toronto’s Gary Trent Jr., Utah’s Malik Beasley or Memphis’ Dillon Brooks would be ideal, though the Warriors might have to give up too much (some combination of Donte DiVincenzo, Jonathan Kuminga and/or Moses Moody) to make salaries match for a deal to work”, Deveney said."

Trent makes $17.5 million this season, putting him out of the price range of a straight Wiseman swap, as Deveney states. From that point though, why would Golden State ever add Jonathan Kuminga to the deal? They could do Wiseman, Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green from the time they become eligible to be traded on December 15, but that’s just further crippling already suspect Warriors depth.

There’s also genuine question marks on Trent’s fit with the Warriors regardless of what a trade would look like. A spark plug scorer off the bench would be nice next to Jordan Poole, but the 23-year-old isn’t doing a whole lot to address the team’s defensive issues.

Overall, it’s just a nonsensical trade unless the Warriors dive into genuine freefall. Trent isn’t quite the calibre of player that’s going to convince the franchise to give up on their young players, nor give up rotation pieces in a 3-for-1 deal.