As it stands, the Golden State Warriors should have plenty of optionality at 11th overall.
The holes that linger on their roster will make sure of it. If they're looking to add a center like Michigan's Aday Mara to help anchor their defense moving forward, that's a defensible selection. Picking a forward like Yaxel Lendeborg would also fill a need, as would selecting a guard or 3-and-D player like Brayden Burries or Karim López.
If Golden State wants to add a guard to complement Stephen Curry in the backcourt, however, they may be faced with a difficult proposition.
Burries would be the ideal fit, but it seems unlikely that he'll be available at 11th overall barring a surprising drop. It's not outside the realm of possibility, but his fit with the Dallas Mavericks makes the prospect of betting on him to fall outside of the top-10 relatively risky.
If one of Golden State's main aims is to add a guard in this Draft, and they're not absolutely enamored with any prospect still available at 11th overall, their best move would be to trade down, adding a viable guard as well as another top prospect to help infuse some young talent into their roster.
Given the Warriors' draft position, their best shot at a guard might be outside of the lottery
Dalton Johnson at NBC Spots Bay Area recently listed the three guards that he thinks would be the best fits for the Warriors in the draft— Burries, Labaron Philon Jr., and Christian Anderson. It's hard to disagree with his assessment.
Burries would be the perfect off-ball, perimeter-shooting complement to the Warriors' current offensive structure under Steve Kerr. He shot 39.1% from beyond the arc during his freshman campaign at Arizona. Although there are concerns about his size and defensive upside, he should be able to operate well as a shooting guard at the next level.
Labaron Philon Jr., meanwhile, was one of the most productive players in this class. Across 33 games at Alabama as a sophomore, he averaged 22 points, 3.5 rebounds, and five assists while knocking down 39.9% of his 3-point attempts.
Even Anderson has serious upside as a ball-handler and a playmaker, having played a major facilitator role in Texas Tech's offense as a sophomore, leading the Big 12 in assists and posting an impressive 2.24 assist-to-turnover ratio across 33 games.
But as Johnson acknowledges, Burries is the least likely out of this trio to be available for Golden State at 11th overall. Philon and Anderson, however, would likely be reaches in that draft range. Most mock drafts now have both players set outside of the lottery, but still within the top-20. The Athletic's draft expert Sam Vecenie had Anderson ranked 17th and Philon ranked 20th on his final big board.
If the Warriors want to pursue a trade-back opportunity with, say, the Charlotte Hornets, they could likely net the 14th and 18th overall selections in this Draft in exchange for their current pick. This would not only put them in prime range to select a guard like Philon or Anderson, but it would also give them a clear path to adding adding a forward like Hannes Steinbach, Chris Cenac Jr., or Allen Graves.
Of course, it's not imperative that Golden State comes away from this draft with a guard. Simply taking the best prospect available at 11th overall remains the most likely move. But if they want to take a swing on a guard in this class, they'd be smart to trade back and yield themselves a pair of exciting prospects instead of reaching for a viable fit.
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