4 Trade ideas to help Golden State Warriors jump into the NBA Draft lottery
The Golden State Warriors have some massive, future-defining decisions to make in free agency this offseason. Before that, though, they must figure out how they’re going to approach and operate in the 2023 NBA Draft. They enter draft week with the 19th overall pick, but there are some whispers that they are looking to move up.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has reported that the Warriors have an interest in possibly trading into the lottery. It’s an intriguing idea that depending on how the draft board falls on draft night, the Warriors could end up pursuing.
But before we get to what a possible trade-up deal would look like, let’s try to answer a couple of these other questions first.
Who could the Golden State Warriors be targeting in the lottery?
Before we explore whether the Warriors will move up, it’s important to try and figure out who potential targets could be. In a vacuum, you would assume the Warriors would want to add a wing. With the potential of Donte DiVincenzo leaving in free agency and no guarantee that Moses Moody will take the big leap that many expect him to next season, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Warriors to add another wing – either in the NBA Draft or via free agency.
Of the wings that are expected to be taken in the lottery, there are Brandon Miller, Cam Whitmore, and Ausar Thompson. You can also throw in Gradey Dick and Bilal Coulibaly as potential dark horse targets.
The Warriors aren’t trading up high enough to land Miller, so you can probably narrow their targets down to Whitmore, Thompson, Dick, and Coulibaly. I suppose you also can’t completely eliminate the thought of the Warriors moving up for Dereck Lively II, who has been a late riser.
What would it cost the Golden State Warriors to trade up into the lottery?
Assuming those are the targets for the Warriors, they could probably want to move between the 7-14 spots. I don’t think Orlando would trade out of the No. 6 pick (for what the Warriors would be offering) and I don’t think they have the firepower or willingness to trade any higher than that. To move up to that range, it will likely cost the Warriors a combination of Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Jordan Poole, the No. 19 pick, and future first-rounders. In other words, those are the tradable assets the Warriors will likely be working with.
A few days out from the NBA Draft, we explore four trade ideas that would help the Warriors accomplish the goal of trading into the lottery.