The Golden State Warriors happily walked away with Yaxel Lendeborg as the 11th overall pick at Tuesday's NBA Draft, but the front office may have missed a major opportunity to add to their young talent by taking an additional prospect afterwards.
Karim Lopez, Labaron Philon Jr. and Chris Cenac Jr. had all been linked to the Warriors to varying degrees leading up to the draft, yet fell out of the top 20 where the franchise could have made a bold trade to acquire one of the sliders.
Warriors missed golden opportunity to add another young player
Lopez had been seen as a potential selection at the 11th pick in multiple mock drafts, while some thought Golden State may reach for Philon as a long-term replacement to Stephen Curry after holding a workout with the young guard last week.
Yet not only did the Warriors pass on that pair and take Lendeborg, but multiple teams also turned away from Lopez and Philon who eventually went 21st to the Memphis Grizzlies (after a trade) and 22nd to the Philadelphia 76ers respectively.
Cenac had also worked out for Golden State prior to the draft, raising speculation over the potential of trading for a later first-round pick considering the Houston big man was never realistically in play at 11. The 19-year-old was eventually drafted 27th overall by the Boston Celtics, giving them another potential steal after taking Hugo Gonzales with the 28th pick last year.
We'll never know how close the Warriors got to potentially trading into another first-round pick, but their pre-draft interest in both Philon and Cenac would suggest it had to have been worthy of a serious internal conversation.
Warriors tried trading 11th overall pick before taking Yaxel Lendeborg
While Golden State could have utlizied their future picks to trade back into another selection, the other way would have been by trading down from 11 which they quite clearly tried to do before taking Lendeborg.
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported the Warriors were taking calls on the 11th pick, and that was also evident from the live look into their draft room where conversations were being had. This wasn't because they didn't want to take Lendeborg, but more likely because they believed he'd be available a few selections later and wanted to grab another asset -- potentially another first-round pick -- in the process.
There had been reports of Golden State potentially flipping the 11th pick to the Charlotte Hornets for the 14th and 18th selections, but that ultimately didn't come to fruition. It leaves Lendeborg as a quality but sole piece for the Warriors from the first-round, and you can't help but feel they could have done something more.
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