The Golden State Warriors are 15-16 through 31 games following their fourth NBA title in eight seasons. With the disappointment palpable, social media has been ablaze with trade proposals to remedy the team’s poor record. DubNation’s version of Grand Theft Auto has become nothing short of a street mugging of the Warriors’ young core.
A recent report has suggested the Golden State Warriors will make either of their recent top ten picks, James Wiseman or Jonathan Kuminga, available in trade talks.
According to Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett, an unnamed league executive believes that Golden State will shake things up by February’s trade deadline.
"“I have a feeling the Warriors are going to make either James Wiseman or Jonathan Kuminga available. They just need another solid veteran”, the executive said."
A number of veterans have been linked with the Warriors, although NBC Sports’ Angelina Martin made a specific point of identifying Jae Crowder after touching on the Wiseman/Kuminga news.
"“The Warriors have been reported to be in the mix for dormant Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder, along with plenty of other teams, and whispers of a potential Kevin Durant reunion have hounded Golden State since the summer”, Martin wrote."
Trading Wiseman or Kuminga for Crowder would be completely nonsensical from a Warriors perspective. As Martin themselves says, Kuminga’s “unreal athleticism offers great potential”, and Wiseman’s a “former No. 2 overall pick who they’ve (Golden State) publicly stated they believe in.”
Why would Golden State trade one of these prospects for a player who might be, at best, the seventh player in Steve Kerr’s rotation? Is Crowder really going to be the difference-making piece to a fifth championship in nine seasons? His continued link to the Warriors is astounding — to make the salary work, Wiseman or multiple of Kuminga, Kevon Looney, Donte DiVincenzo or Moses Moody would have to go.
Then you come to the Suns perspective — why are they going to want a recent lottery pick when they to are trying to capitalize on championship contention? This is a team who traded their number ten pick in Wiseman’s draft, Jalen Smith, for a role player in Torrey Craig just 18 months into his career.
The on-court idea of Crowder as a three-and-D forward is reasonable, but the ability to land him would rely on a foolish perspective from both teams. Time to move on from the thought of Crowder at the Warriors.