With Jonathan Kuminga now on the sidelines for at least the next three weeks, there are real concerns on how an already shaky Golden State Warriors offense will function without their second-leading scorer.
To make matters worse for the Warriors, a 2x All-Star is only haunting them further as fans start to ponder what could have been. Zach LaVine continued his hot form on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs, scoring 14 of his 35 points in the fourth-quarter as the Bulls outscored the visitors 32-15 in the final period to win 114-110.
The Warriors might be regretting their Zach LaVine decision right now
LaVine is having an excellent bounce-back season after being limited to just 25 games in 2023-24 due to injury. The 29-year-old is averaging 23.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, having shot 50.9% from the floor and 44.7% from 3-point range.
Monday's 35-point outing was LaVine's third-straight 30-point game, and his seventh in his last 11 games. The Warriors could certainly do with that level of offensive production right now, made all the more frustrating by the fact they could have easily acquired LaVine during the offseason.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, the Bulls offered LaVine for Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins prior to the start of free agency. Golden State rejected the deal, instead choosing to waive Paul's non-guaranteed contract which allowed him to join the Spurs.
Bulls were probably confused as hell when the Warriors hung up on the Lavine offer with a 1st attached lmaooo
— Niko (@nikotaughtyou) January 7, 2025
Hilarious that Warriors didn’t even need to trade Wiggins for Lavine. Cp3 and filler and they had Lavine AND a pick. Lmaoooo nice work everyone https://t.co/BD9hrNdypL
— Grandson of the Wind Stan Account (@AndyKHLiu) January 7, 2025
Warriors could have made the LaVine move for expiring deals and if they still came to the conclusion they couldn't compete at least they can say they tried with LaVine.
— They Got Me (@PaulTweetsRIP) January 6, 2025
Even if they didn't want to give up Wiggins, the Warriors likely could have still got LaVine for Paul and the expiring salaries of Gary Payton and Kevon Looney. So low was LaVine's value during the offseason, and so desperate were Chicago to get off the remainder of his contract, that Golden State could have well got a first-round pick in the process.
Trading for LaVine would have likely meant no De'Anthony Melton (since turned into Dennis Schroder), no Kyle Anderson and no Buddy Hield, leaving the Warriors to sign minimum-contract players in free agency instead.
Yet given the current state of their offense, Golden State would surely take a 25-point per game scorer over a few role players right now. A Curry-LaVine back court could have been dynamic, while the Warriors would still have retained Wiggins, Kuminga and Draymond Green.
The Warriors and Bulls could reconvene on a different trade in the coming weeks, with The Athletic reporting on Saturday that Golden State have interest in veteran center Nikola Vucevic before the February 6 deadline.