After acquiring De'Anthony Melton on a one-year, $12.8 million deal in free agency, the Golden State Warriors moved to land another valuable role player in the form of Kyle Anderson on Tuesday.
The Warriors completed a sign-and-trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves in adding Anderson on a three-year, $27 million contract, absorbing the 30-year-old into their trade exception while sending out a second-round pick.
The acquisition of Kyle Anderson suggests another more substantial trade could be on the horizon for the Golden State Warriors
Golden State are also nearing a deal to acquire veteran sharpshooter Buddy Hield in a sign-and-trade according to The Athletic's Shams Charania late on Tuesday. The franchise's moves thus far are intriguing to say the least -- Melton, Anderson (and potentially Hield) are valuable role players who should suit the system well, but they aren't moving the needle anywhere near enough to suggest the Warriors will be a prominent playoff team next season.
The trade for Anderson is certainly fascinating -- while his versatility as a switchable defender, ball handler, passer and screener at 6'9" fits the mould as a Golden State type of player, his three-point shooting concerns exaggerate a problematic issue in the team's front court.
The current power forward and center options consist of Anderson, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kevon Looney and Quinten Post (assuming the 52nd overall pick is signed to the main roster). Only Post is a genuine perimeter shooting threat that teams may legitimately guard beyond the arc, and that's literally only in theory given he's never played in an NBA game.
Having Kuminga, Green, Anderson and Jackson-Davis as your 4/5 rotation doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a spacing standpoint. In fact, it makes so little sense that one only has to think that another move must be coming.
Lauri Markkanen is the buzz name regarding the Warriors right now, with the franchise viewed as the "aggressors" of the teams pursuing the Utah Jazz forward according to Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes. The further this process goes, the more the 2023 All-Star makes sense given the other pieces Golden State have added.
It's almost as if the Warriors are doing this in reverse -- instead of acquiring a star-calibre player and working the rest out later like many do, they're putting everything in place before landing the difference-making piece to complete the construction. Now, only time will tell if there's a master plan that comes to fruition.