The Golden State Warriors continue to be strongly linked for a move to reunite with 2x Finals MVP Kevin Durant before the NBA trade deadline, with the franchise showing renewed desperation to land a superstar over the past 48 hours.
Instead of necessarily looking at positional needs on the roster, the Warriors appear solely focused on acquiring a second star scorer to provide support for Stephen Curry. No one signifies that more than Durant, with the 36-year-old still one of the league's premier scorers nearly six years after departing Golden State in 2019.
The Warriors will still face a familiar issue even with a Kevin Durant trade
The Warriors' team is going to be far from perfect nor complete in the wake of a Durant trade, and they'll likely be left with some of the same issues they've already faced over the first-half of the season.
Arguably the biggest of those is the center position which has seen a significant shit in recent weeks. After Trayce Jackson-Davis had started 37 of Golden State's first 46 games, the second-year center has began receiving DNPs as rookie big man Quinten Post has surprisingly surged into a starting role.
Post has offered something completely different for the Warriors, showcasing an offensive skillset that's allowed Steve Kerr to run various lineups that were previously not possible. The 24-year-old was particularly impressive in the third-quarter of Monday's win over the Orlando Magic, recording seven points, three rebounds and two assists in a six-minute period where Golden State outscored the visitors by 13.
For as impressive as Post has been, does Kerr and Golden State want a rookie center starting for a team featuring 36-year-old's Stephen Curry and Durant? Adding Durant would accelerate pressure on the Warriors to start winning, particularly assuming they give up significant assets to land the 15x All-Star.
Perhaps it's simply a case of adding another superstar and working the rest out later. This makes sense given acquiring the superstar is the hardest part of the process, but it will still leave significant question marks elsewhere in the starting lineup and the rotation.
Does Jackson-Davis come back into the fold at some point? Is veteran Kevon Looney still on the roster past the deadline? Do the Warriors have to make another trade in addition to Durant that lands them a veteran, starting-calibre center?
These are all secondary questions in the entire Durant discussion, but they're nonetheless important ones the Warriors have to ask themselves amid a huge, potentially franchise-altering two-way period.