Grade the Trade: Golden State Warriors make all-time mistake in proposed deal
![SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 18: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors passes the ball to Andrew Wiggins #22 by Isaiah Hartenstein #55 of the New York Knicks during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on November 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 18: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors passes the ball to Andrew Wiggins #22 by Isaiah Hartenstein #55 of the New York Knicks during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on November 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/2e655b2214f3dea1af991ccd017a023ca876ffe9cbc85b95bd9601c742778c88.jpg)
This trade proposal is a complete miscalculation of Andrew Wiggins’ value
Make no mistake, dealing Wiggins for Fournier, Hartenstein and a first-round pick would be an unmitigated disaster for the Warriors. In providing reasoning behind why the move would be credible, Piercey states, “they (the Warriors) are flipping one rotation player for a pair of them”.
To put Wiggins in the same breath as Fournier and Hartenstein is astonishing and quite honestly insulting. We’re talking about a player who is a season removed from being an NBA All-Star and the second-best player on a championship team. Yet the Warriors, still harboring championship aspirations, should trade him for a backup center and one of the most untradeable contracts in the league?
With Wiggins, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle (not to mention constant speculation about the Knicks’ potential of acquiring Donovan Mitchell in the future), that 2024 pick is likely to be outside the top 20. New York should have to give that pick up just to get off Fournier’s contract, let alone receive an incredibly valuable two-way wing that every team in the league would like to get their hands on.
Golden State saw that they were about to pay a bench player, a backup point-guard, nearly $130 million over the next four years — that’s why they moved off Poole to open up financial flexibility. Wiggins is much more important to their ambitions, both in the short and long-term given he’s still very much in his prime at 28-years-old.
The Warriors have moulded Wiggins from overpaid, under delivering former number one pick into the perfect three-and-D forward who retains elements of his iso-scoring qualities. Such a move would undo all of that, and might go down as one of the worst trades in franchise history.
Grade –
Knicks (A+)
Warriors (F)