According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Golden State Warriors have shown heavy interest in a potential trade with the New Orleans Pelicans for Trey Murphy III. Adding Murphy to the mix would give the Warriors a defined direction for the future and change the entire outlook of the organization.
“Sources say that the Warriors have a strong affinity for Murphy and have made outreach to New Orleans as recently as this summer,” Fischer wrote. “Yet sources say that the Pelicans, to be clear, have batted away calls for the 25-year-old, valuing him highly. The two-way forward will be playing on a contract in 2025-26 — at precisely $25 million — as desirable as his talent. Another team known to have registered trade interest in Murphy, sources say, is San Antonio.”
The question is, how could the Warriors make it happen?
How could Warriors trade for Trey Murphy III?
Unfortunately, as Fischer also stated, the Pelicans haven’t shown much interest in moving Murphy. They want to keep him in New Orleans as a part of their future core, as evidenced by the notion that they have ‘batted away’ offers.
Still, if the Warriors could put together a massive package to offer the Pelicans, Murphy would be a perfect guy to bridge the gap between Warriors present and Warriors future.
Theoretically, the Warriors could offer a package that includes some combination of a Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade and one of Moses Moody or Buddy Hield in a deal for Murphy (and matching salary, once aggregation restrictions lift), along with a slew of picks.
If Golden State feels strongly enough about Murphy’s ability to help them now and moving forward, they could offer future firsts to the Pelicans, who would effectively be betting on the Warriors’ downfall in the post-Stephen Curry era.
But perhaps that should be a bet the Warriors are willing to take. Murphy has the talent to be one of the best scoring wings in the NBA.
Not only would his elite three-point shooting help Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green right now, but he could be good enough to lead a new era of Warriors basketball once Curry retires.
Should the Warriors make an offer strong enough to coerce the Pelicans to give up Murphy, it could change the outlook of the organization for the next decade.
And if they feel Murphy is the missing piece to help Curry gun for another championship, a trade may be worth the risk.