Knicks’ rumored trade plans could quietly open door for Warriors opportunity

The Golden State Warriors' perfect outcome may be to select two young prospects in the first-round of next week's NBA draft, but acquiring a second pick may still prove far easier said than done.

Fortunately for the Warriors, the latest reports on the NBA champion New York Knicks could quietly open the door for them to acquire a pick that may land them Chris Cenac Jr. who they've showed interest in during the pre-draft process.

Knicks' rumored trade plans could give Warriors another first-round pick

The Knicks front office has had to turn around quickly from Saturday's Finals triumph to assessing the state of their roster ahead of the draft, with NBA insider Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reporting on Tuesday night that they're planning to offload either the 24th or 31st pick.

"As for the NBA's new champions, sources say Leon Rose's front office is planning to move one of the Knicks' two selections. They currently hold No. 24 and the first pick of Wednesday night's second round: No. 31," Fischer wrote.

The 24th pick should be of particular interest to the Warriors, especially after holding a workout with Cenac on Monday. The Houston big man is projected to go much closer to New York's pick at 24 than he is to Golden State's at 11, so much so than it's impossible to envisage him heading to the Bay Area without a trade that lands the franchise a later first-round selection.

Perhaps 24 may be slightly too low for the Warriors to be able to get their hands on Cenac, with a far greater likelihood that the 19-year-old goes somewhere between 18-22 come draft night. Still, 24 would put Golden State in a range where Cenac is within touching distance, and perhaps another minor move could see them jump up from 24 to a pick where he's obtainable.

Warriors may need three-team trade to land Knicks pick

The big question is how Golden State would get their hands on the 24th pick if it's truly available? A future first-round pick would have to be heavily protected (top 20), and therefore there's really no reason to be interested in a deal from a Knicks perspective.

The Warriors may well need to get a third team involved where they trade slightly down from the 11th pick to get a later first-round selection, something like the below framework (with a different team) that was proposed on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.

Whether it's the Knicks or another team, it seems the Warriors should be finding a trade partner to land themselves an additional first-round selection, rather than actually trading away their 11th pick which so many fans have been eager for them to do previously during the Stephen Curry era.

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