The Golden State Warriors continue to harbor hopes of landing both Anthony Davis and LeBron James this offseason, but making the latter become a reality is going to require paying overs on his former championship teammate at the Los Angeles Lakers.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on Wednesday that the Warriors have expressed interest in trading for Davis, but that the Washington Wizards have thus far shut down any such conversations.
Warriors have to pay overs to land Anthony Davis-LeBron James pairing
Golden State can patiently wait for August 6 to come around when Davis is extension-eligible, and when the leverage can come back into their favor if the Wizards appear to be well apart in negotiations with the 10x All-Star.
But will James continue to wait another two weeks for that to take place? Perhaps the only move the Warriors can make here is to pay overs on Davis with the knowledge that they're essentially getting James for free.
It's not an approach that worked for the L.A. Clippers when they acquired Paul George and Kawhi Leonard during the 2019 offseason, but we're not talking about emptying the entire cupboard of assets in a Davis trade.
Washington gave up two incredibly fake firsts to acquire Davis from the Dallas Mavericks at February's mid-season deadline. Despite having yet to play a game for the franchise and with the extension aspect now at the forefront of the situation, the Wizards clearly have the leverage here to ask for more.
If they're asking for two unprotected first-round picks, the Warriors might just need to do it. What's the alternative? Not get Davis or James and wind up running it back waiting for Jimmy Butler to return from injury, and subsequently waste one of Stephen Curry's final years in the process?
Warriors need to sacrifice the future for dream LeBron-Curry pairing
Even if you give up two future picks to land Davis and then sign James, don't you trust yourself as a franchise to be good enough in the future to ensure those don't become top five selections? Regardless, what are the chances that those picks ever become anywhere near as good as the two greatest players of the last 15 years, even at their current standard as 41 and 38-year-old's respectively.
Throw Davis into the mix, the return of Draymond Green, and other veterans like Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, and you've got a star-studded veteran roster that at least has the upside of competing at a very high level.
Golden State could still have a young core headlined by 11th overall pick Yaxel Lendeorg and the likes of Brandin Podziemski, while still having multiple first-round picks moving forward to support a post-Curry era.
The Warriors continue to be incredibly risk-averse when it comes to the trade market, and at some point you've just got to take the gamble on Davis while James is still waiting for a move to be made.
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