Under-the-radar roster need Warriors are yet to address in free agency
The Golden State Warriors are continuing their search for a star to add alongside Stephen Curry. After missing out on Paul George over the weekend, the front office's attention has seemingly turned to Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen.
Trading for Markkanen appears the franchise's highest priority right now, with Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes referring to the Warriors as the "aggressors" among a number of potential suitors for the 2023 All-Star. Yet even if a trade for Markkanen does eventually take place, Golden State's roster shouldn't quite be complete with one more under-the-radar addition they need to make.
The Golden State Warriors are yet to address their need for a backup point guard following the departure of Chris Paul
After waiving his non-guaranteed $30 million deal for next season, the Warriors lost Chris Paul to the San Antonio Spurs on day one of free agency. Paul's departure was long seen coming, but the front office have instead targeted versatile forward Kyle Anderson and a pair of shooting guards in De'Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield (the latter is not yet confirmed).
Golden State need to find a replacement for Paul -- failing that and they'll be reliant on a second-year guard in Brandin Podziemski, who's still viewed largely as a combo guard, to handle the non-Curry minutes. While the impressive 21-year-old may be able to thrive in that opportunity, it's a major risk to take for a franchise that should be pushing to return to the playoffs next season.
The issue is that if the Warriors acquire Hield without an outgoing salary -- possible but perhaps unlikely -- and they give 52nd overall pick Quinten Post a main roster spot, they'd actually have the full 15 allotted players on their roster.
That would leave only Reece Beekman -- an undrafted 22-year-old signed to a two-way contract -- as the only primary point guard behind Curry. At that point Golden State would need to make another move to open up a roster spot, though perhaps it would have already happened in a confirmed Hield trade.
Tyus Jones, Markelle Fultz, Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Lowry appear the best point guards remaining on the free agent market, but the former two would almost assuredly be outside Golden State's price range.
Paul helped to steady and make the Warriors a productive team in the non-Curry minutes last offseason, and the franchise need to address finding another veteran option to alleviate the issues faced previously when the two-time MVP sits on the bench.