The Golden State Warriors are in this middling state right now where they’re likely to need a major trade in the next few months to become truly relevant this season.
Aday Mara’s explosive preseason form with the Oklahoma City Thunder, combined with Kristaps Porzingis' ongoing illness issue, means the Warriors should be monitoring Chet Holmgren as a potential answer to that major trade before February‘s mid-season deadline.
Aday Mara's form gives Warriors another reason to monitor Chet Holmgren
Holmgren already generated some trade speculation early in the offseason, having delivered an increasingly poor performance during the Western Conference Finals against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
Now the thunder has another lengthy, seven-foot plus big man on their hands — one that, based on preseason form, might have just as much potential as Holmgren, and may be even better equipped to try and limit Wembanyama‘s impact as the two teams again prepare to dominate the conference this season.
Even despite trading the likes of Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe during the offseason, Oklahoma City could still face a cap crunch with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Holmgren all on max contracts.
Is there a world in which Mara is so good that the Thunder feel comfortable trading Holmgren in order to ease their cap burden going forward? That would seem highly unlikely and would probably need another Holmgren playoff failure, but it’s not completely out of the realms of possibility if Mara comes as has been advertised during preseason.
Mara has averaged 15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.8 blocks in four preseason games, having posted 22 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting against the Milwaukee Bucks, along with a 17-point, 10-rebound, six-assist, five-block performance against the Atlanta Hawks.
Thunder may not want to strengthen Western Conference rival
The next question would be whether the Thunder would want to strengthen a conference rival when they, along with the San Antonio Spurs, would appear to have control of it for the foreseeable future.
The Warriors aren’t a contender right now, but a quartet of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Holmgren and Yaxel Lendeborg could suddenly be very interesting and breathe life into the final years of the Curry era, while also adding a key pillar for the franchise once the two-time MVP finishes up.
Perhaps Oklahoma City would prefer to trade Holmgren to the Eastern Conference, but they’ve actually got to reach that point first which would still appear to be a while away. Still, the Mara development means the Warriors should at least be keeping an eye on what’s happening at the Thunder as the season progresses.
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