The Memphis Grizzlies used the No. 48 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on West Virginia guard Javon Small. When they did so, they used the last piece of the Kevin Durant trade the Golden State Warriors made years ago.
Warriors fans understandably have mixed feelings about the Kevin Durant era in The Bay. On the one hand, adding him was a front office masterclass and he helped the franchise win two titles and make a third NBA Finals in his three seasons. While Stephen Curry was always the team's best player, Durant was an MVP candidate and won Finals MVP twice.
With that success, however, always came a sense that Durant was never fully bought into the Warriors' culture. That obviously bubbled over during his final season in Golden State with multiple altercations with Draymond Green. Durant didn't find the happiness he wanted with the Warriors despite the success, he was considering leaving the team, and the franchise mainstays didn't appreciate it.
No one can say Durant didn't give his all on the court, however, and he pushed to come back from a calf injury in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. That decision, while noble, ended in disaster when he tore his Achilles tendon. When Klay Thompson also went down, the Warriors lost the Finals in six games to the Raptors.
The following summer, Durant decided to leave the team and sign with Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets. With precious little time to work something out, Warriors GM Bob Myers put together a sign-and-trade to send Durant and a first-round pick to the Nets in exchange for D'Angelo Russell.
Every Warriors fan knows what happened with D-Lo. The mercurial point guard was a poor fit in Golden State, but that didn't stop the Minnesota Timberwolves from trading Andrew Wiggins and a first-round pick for him. Wiggins was a key contributor to the 2022 championship, while that pick became No. 7 and was used on Jonathan Kuminga.
The final piece of the Durant trade has been finalized
That first round pick the Warriors sent to Brooklyn was a protected 2020 first, and the Warriors promptly had their worst sason in decades and retained the pick -- it became James Wiseman. Per the terms of the trade, if the first didn't convey in 2020, it became a 2025 second-round pick.
That pick over time became part of a 6-team mass of second-round pick trades, with the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies all getting involved. Ultimately, the Nets swapped the Warriors' 2025 second with the Wizards' second (No. 32) while the Wizards then sent that worse pick from GS over to the Memphis Grizzlies from the Marcus Smart trade.
The Grizzlies used the pick on Javon Small, a 6'1" guard who brings defense, energy and ball-handling to the point guard position for Memphis. Small is...well, small, but he is the right kind of teammate to have around the roster with upside to become a full-time backup guard.
The Warriors dodged a bullet by not needing to convey the 2020 first, but now the final cost of that deal has come home to roost.