The Golden State Warriors can still win a championship. That’s what this organization believes; that Stephen Curry can be the best player on a championship team, that Draymond Green can still anchor a defense, that this roster can still get it done. That belief drove them to add a win-now player in Chris Paul.
There may be a point this season when their belief is challenged by the reality of their roster, when they aren’t playing at a championship level. At that point, they can either make another win-now trade, or they can try to get younger to keep contending for the next few seasons even as Curry and Green age.
In either scenario, their best way to add a difference-maker is to use Klay Thompson in the trade, giving them a large amount of matching salary tied up in a player who is more valuable than CP3 but (arguably) less critical to their success than Andrew Wiggins or Draymond Green. It’s not like the Warriors haven’t considered trading Klay before.
Without delving too deep into the question of whether the Warriors should trade Klay, let’s instead ask the question of who they might trade him for. We aren’t building specific trades or suggesting these are perfectly balanced, merely examining the kinds of players that the Warriors could look at. Here are seven players the Warriors could replace Klay with by the Trade Deadline.
7. Jrue Holiday, Milwaukee Bucks
Even as Klay Thompson has regained most of his offensive game after his two catastrophic injuries, his defense has lagged behind. He lost much of the lateral mobility and agility that he had before the injuries, and that has meant he is much more comfortable defending opposing forwards than he is chasing guards.
The Warriors reacquired Gary Payton II to address that need, but his offensive game is very dependent and he won’t be guarded by many playoff defenses. Enter Jrue Holiday, who is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and can both initiate offense and shoot well enough to keep defenses honest. He’s the same age as Klay but without the injury history, which should help him continue playing at a high level longer than the sharpshooting wing.
6. Jerami Grant, Portland Trail Blazers
There are two things that you should know about Jerami Grant. First, his name is actually Houston Jerami Grant, continuing a family tradition stretching back to his All-Star uncle Horace Junior Grant. The second is that Grant is eligible to be traded in January and the Portland Trail Blazers will be highly motivated to move him as quickly as possible.
Grant proved himself capable of scoring at a high level as the top option for the Detroit Pistons, but he isn’t proficient enough to drive a good NBA offense alone. He is perfect for a supporting role, however, attacking a defense when a superstar teammate creates an advantage; he thrived alongside Damian Lillard in Portland this past season, and he could do so with Stephen Curry in Golden State.
In contrast to Draymond Green or Kevon Looney, Grant would give the Warriors a true spacing element. He has shot at least 81 percent from the free-throw line in each of the past three seasons, and last year hit 40.1 percent of his 3-pointers. Opponents have to defend him no matter where he is on the court, a difficult task when also trying to stop Curry.
When Grant isn’t trying to carry an offense he is also a plus defender, with size and strength to bang inside and the mobility to defend on the perimeter. He and Andrew Wiggins would be an elite combination playing ahead of Green and Looney, and their ability to crossmatch would elevate the players around them.
Newly signed to a lucrative contract, Grant would cost the Warriors a lot of money, but he just might be worth the price.
5. RJ Barrett, New York Knicks
The Warriors could deal Klay Thompson for a veteran piece, a player who can help maximize their chances of winning over the next couple of seasons. The other road is to move Klay for a younger player, someone who can grow into stardom and help to extend the primes of Steph and Draymond. That’s what the San Antonio Spurs pulled off with Kawhi Leonard.
If they go that route the cost will likely be greater; teams value their young players, and to add someone who is young, under contract and playoff-tested is not the easiest task. Even so, it’s possible that the Warriors could target a player on the New York Knicks like RJ Barrett.
Klay Thompson would give the Knicks a shooting presence they don’t have at any other position, and his championship experience would help a good team chase greatness. For the Warriors, they would be chopping a decade off of the age of their wing, hoping for the upside Barrett has flashed at times (including in the World Cup this summer).
Barrett could either start at the two or come off the bench as a super sub, a more controlled version of what they asked of Jordan Poole a season ago. Barrett is a really good passer and an underrated defender, and if his shot doesn’t abandon him he could become a reliable wing, one of those players that are brought up in All-Star conversations but never chosen to one.
4. Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers
One of the most outlandish options for the Warriors to pursue would be to move Klay Thompson for a center. For the majority of their dynastic run, the Warriors have invested scant resources at center, trusting in Draymond Green to slide to the five when needed. Now, with Kevon Looney also under contract, their front line seems set.
What the Warriors lack, however, is a big man who can stretch a defense vertically. Perhaps Jonathan Kuminga can get there, but he’s not a true center; James Wiseman was supposed to become that but couldn’t put his physical gifts together. JaVale McGee thrived in that role once upon a time.
Adding a player like Jarrett Allen would put strain on the Warriors’ shooters, but at the same time, he would introduce a lob threat to feast on the perimeter threat of Stephen Curry’s shooting in the pick-and-roll. On defense, he is one of the league’s best rim protectors with underrated mobility in space.
Would trading Klay sacrifice the very shooting that would allow a player like Allen to thrive? Probably so, but if Klay’s lack of mobility on defense is equally an issue then keeping him on his massive contract isn’t an ideal choice either, and Allen wouldn’t be the most expensive player on the market. What’s more, matching Thompson’s salary would require the Cavaliers to send back at least one other player; someone like Caris LeVert or Max Strus would help the rotation out as well.
3. Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings
What about a family reunion? In 2016 the Warriors pushed Harrison Barnes out the door in order to clear the cap space to sign Kevin Durant; that’s not a move anyone could blame the Warriors for doing, as it led to two titles and three-straight Finals appearances, but Barnes was a beloved member of their core.
He could return if the Sacramento Kings and former Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown answer the phone call about a Klay Thompson trade. If the Warriors are looking to move off of Thompson’s money and get back useable players but not attach other assets to the deal, a player like Barnes could be the perfect centerpiece of a return.
There would need to be other salary involved, perhaps as a three-team deal, but Barnes could step in as an incredibly versatile sixth man to back up Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green at the forward spots. He has shot 38.7 percent from deep in five seasons with the Kings, is a strong defender and an underrated ball-mover.
In other words, he would be a seamless fit back into the Warriors’ system, and at just 31 years old has plenty of gas left in the tank to transition into a solid veteran role player. He isn’t much of a star return for Thompson, but he is a player the Warriors can trust that they can go to war with.
2. Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
From “battle-tested role player” to “star-powered unknown,” our final two players on this list offer the top-end of talent the Warriors could pursue in a Klay Thompson trade. They have made big swings before, and Thompson’s salary plus some draft capital could allow them to go after an offensively skilled All-Star to help Curry transition into the next phase of his career.
The most available version of that player archetype is Karl-Anthony Towns, one of the best shooting bigs in NBA history; he is a career 39.5 percent shooter from deep, 83.5 percent from the free-throw line and is a high-level rebounder to boot.
The pairing of Towns and Rudy Gobert on the Minnesota Timberwolves seemed ill-advised from the start, and by midseason, the Wolves may be ready to call it quits; it’s hard to imagine them spending over $100 million in 2024-25 on three centers. Towns is more easily traded than Gobert, and getting back an elite shooter could be just what the doctor ordered in Minnesota.
On the Warriors, Towns would provide floor-spacing near Thompson’s level while also pulling on defenses in unique ways. He can also pass from the elbow like the Warriors love, and a dribble-handoff with Curry is a terrifying action for defenses to try and defend. Defensively, Towns is clearly an issue, but the Warriors will hope that Draymond and Wiggins are the right partners to make up for it.
This is a wild swing, but it’s an intriguing one, perhaps only topped by the final player on this list.
1. Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
Zion Williamson, or “Zanos” as his nickname on Basketball Reference lists, is the prime example of a player who is snake-bitten. He is one of the most talented players in the entire league, with the strength and weight of a big man but the handle and shake of a guard. He also is continuously injured and unavailable for a New Orleans Pelicans team that has invested a lot in building around him.
The Pelicans could decide that it was time to build around Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III instead, moving Williamson and washing their hands of his chronic unavailability. Could the Warriors truly make a swing for a player like Zion?
The offensive upside is immense; how can a team choose between packing the paint against Zion, who can score at will inside, and defending Curry on the perimeter when he can shoot from 30 feet? Perhaps Draymond is the right mentor to get Williamson to buy in on defense and use his elite athleticism as a shot-blocking weapon.
It would also mean trading for that injury risk. The Warriors had a crossroads like that before early in Curry’s career, and he made a turn for the best. Would they really risk the end of Curry’s career on a bet like that? If it works, though, it’s not hard to see the trio of Curry, Draymond and Zion winning a title. Williamson is that talented.
It is going to be a hard decision to trade Klay Thompson for anyone, and most likely the Warriors stay committed to the trio who brought them all of that hardware and let this group ride into the sunset together. If they’re truly bold, however, they could move him and strike off down a different path.