Why the Golden State Warriors will be ultra-hesitant to trade James Wiseman

James Wiseman is undoubtedly the biggest name to watch from a Golden State Warriors perspective ahead of the February 9 trade deadline. Given his stature as a recent number two overall pick, his relative lack of impact to the team’s immediate title chances, and his $9.6 million salary, the 21-year-old has been mentioned in a raft of trade discussions as the franchise seeks to win back-to-back championships.

However, there’s plenty of reasons why Wiseman may remain at the Warriors — He’s shown exciting signs of development over the last month, and even regardless, Golden State proved they could win the title without him last season. Beyond that, there’s also one primary reason why the franchise will be reluctant to move him.

The time and resources put into developing James Wiseman must make the Golden State Warriors hesitant on dealing him in the next six weeks.

Giving up on a number two overall pick three years into a career is unusual at the best of times. But Golden State signed Jama Mahlalela and Dejan Milojević specifically as development coaches at the start of last season, and there’s little doubt they and Wiseman have been working tirelessly to get the seven-foot big man up to speed. The idea of giving up on Wiseman and then watching him flourish elsewhere may be too great for general manager Bob Myers and the Warriors’ front office.

Then there’s Myers’ recent perspective on mid-season trades. There appears to be two caveats on dealing players before the trade deadline; the team has to be in a precarious position record wise, and the player has to be relatively new to the Warriors system.

Of the eight players most recently traded mid-season by Golden State, seven of them were on the team for less than 12 months. That’s Brad Wanamaker and Marquese Chriss in the 2020-21 season, along with D’Angelo Russell, Omari Spellman, Willie Cauley-Stein, Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III the season prior. Only Jacob Evans lasted longer, traded with Russell and Spellman around 18 months after being taken in the 2018 draft.

Not only does Wiseman holds exponentially more upside than any of the above players did, but we’re now into his third season at the franchise. His value has significantly reduced from the time he was drafted, and therefore the return the Warriors may get could be minimal in comparison to Wiseman’s potential.

This is a franchise that prides itself on continuity, on building their core pieces primarily through the draft and subsequent development. Trading Wiseman would take a backflip of sorts on those values, and it’s why there remains a big chance he remains on the Warriors well beyond the trade deadline.