The Golden State Warriors continue to explore trades involving veteran center Kristaps Porzingis, but they're reportedly hesistant to include injured wing Moses Moody in any deal.
Moody could return to the Warriors within the next two months, and trading him now would likely be a sell-low situation which makes the front office's trade stance more than reasonable as they look for a rotation upgrade.
Warriors are right to keep Moses Moody out of trade talks
Porzingis' willingness to take a significant buyout could open up more trade avenues for Golden State, but they're reluctant to include Moody and his $12.5 million salary according to NBA insiders Jake Fischer and Marc Stein on Sunday night.
"We're also told that the Warriors are determined to keep Moses Moody out of any in-season trade business if possible, believing that both Moody and Butler can make successful returns from their respective knee injuries at some point in the second half of the season," Stein and Fischer wrote.
This isn't to say Moody should be completely untouchable, but the Warriors are right to be protective of the former 14th overall pick. Moody would likely be required if Golden State were to pursue a player making more than $25 million, with he and Porzingis' combined salaries equating to $32.5 million.
Yet this report suggests the Warriors are more inclined to trade for a player making less than $20 million, and presumably they'd be looking for another center option rather than acquire a wing/forward when Butler and Moody are soon to return.
Moses Moody is starter-level player for Warriors when healthy
With so much of the focus on Butler's return in the next three months, Moody gets forgotten a little bit when it comes to his impact on this team when healthy. The 24-year-old started 49 of his 60 games before his devastating injury last season, averaging a career-high 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists on 40.1% shooting from three-point range.
There have been suggestions that Golden State should explore a trade for a notable point-of-attack defender, but Moody is just that type of player when healthy. Combine that with being a high-level three-point shooter, and the Warriors have a valuable three-and-D player on a good contract.
It's therefore only right that they keep Moody on their books, particularly when he's young enough to recover fully from the injury and eventually become an even better player than the one we saw before he went down against the Dallas Mavericks in March.
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