Warriors draft regret growing after blatant miss on Kings center

The Golden State Warriors had Maxime Raynaud there for the taking at last year's NBA draft, only to trade out of the 41st overall pick which gifted the pacific rival Sacramento Kings an opportunity to nab the young center.

The regret in that decision is only growing for the Warriors nearly a year on, with Raynaud named to the NBA's All-Rookie Second Team when the honors were announced on Wednesday night.

Warriors regret grows after missing on Maxime Raynaud

Instead of taking Raynaud, Golden State traded the 41st pick for the 52nd and 59th selections. They took Alex Toohey with that first selection, then traded back up to 56th to grab NCAA championship-winner Will Richard.

Toohey was on a two-way contract briefly and played for the Warriors in Summer League, but injury forced his departure and there's now a chance we never see the Australian with the franchise again. Richard, meanwhile, did have an impressive rookie year, but at so late in the draft Golden State could have surely found a way to draft him while also taking Raynaud at 41.

The Warriors need a long-term starting center and blatantly passed on a player who, while still having a long to go, projects as someone who could become just that. Raynaud started 56 games during his rookie year after the Kings took him with the 42nd pick, averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists on an efficient 57.1% shooting from the floor.

After taking Trayce Jackson-Davis and Quinten Post with second-round picks in the previous two drafts, perhaps Golden State didn't want to take a third big man in as many years. The reality is though that Raynaud has a much brighter future than both Jackson-Davis and Post, both of who may be off the Warrior roster by this offseason.

Jackson-Davis was already traded to the Toronto Raptors at February's mid-season deadline, while Nick Friedell of The Athletic believes there's only a 15% chance of Golden State re-signing Post as a restricted free agent this summer.

Warriors uncertain center rotation makes Maxime Raynaud miss worse

The Warriors now have a completely uncertain center rotation heading into the offseason. Veteran big man Al Horford has a $6 million player option, Post will be a restricted free agent, and Kristaps Porzingis and Charles Bassey will both be unrestricted free agents.

Had Golden State drafted Raynaud, they would have had a young, at least rotation-level backup big on a cost-controlled and cheap rookie contract. For an aging veteran team during a long regular season, that could have been very important.

The Warriors may now be trying to find a long-term center in the lottery at next month's NBA Draft, with Spaniard Aday Mara and German Hannes Steinbach both linked to the franchise in various mock drafts.

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