Getty Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
The February 9 trade deadline is just a couple of days away, and the Golden State Warriors are one of the teams that could look to make a move. However, veteran star Draymond Green doesn’t think much will happen for them in terms of trades.
“If I’m being honest, it feels like one of those deadlines where everyone is expecting everything to go haywire and not much is going to happen (across the league),” Draymond Green told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “That’s what I think is going to happen. For me, I’m in this locker room with these guys I play with. We’ve never been a team that moves much at the trade deadline. So I’m not going into this deadline expecting some big moves or something. I don’t know. If it happens, it does. But I’ve been here 11 years and I think we’ve made moves two or three times. We haven’t done much.”
After bringing home an NBA Championship last season, the Warriors have struggled so far this year. They are just 28-26 on the season and have hovered around the .500 mark for most of the year. At the moment, that record places them in seventh place in the Western Conference standings, but they are just 2.5 games out of fourth place and three games out of 13th place.
Golden State’s bench has been rough this season, as most of their young players haven’t panned out as well as they had hoped. Jonathan Kuminga has earned a regular spot in the Warriors’ rotation, but both James Wiseman and Moses Moody have not.
When the Warriors let Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II, and Nemanja Bjelica walk in free agency, they were hoping to see their youngsters step up in their place. And again, while Kuminga has, Wiseman has been sent down to the G League multiple times, and Moody hasn’t earned regular playing time.
Warriors Have ‘Painful Decisions’ to Make
Parting ways with their young player may be difficult for the Warriors, as they drafted them and have invested in them, but if they want to push for a title, it might be a necessity. According to David Thorpe of True Hoop, the Warriors have some “painful decisions” to make.
“There’s an argument, of course, for the Warriors to exercise patience through the postseason,” Thorpe wrote. “Don’t forget that their starting five from last June—[Steph] Curry, [Klay] Thompson, [Andrew] Wiggins, Green, Looney—has the second-best net rating among all starting lineups this season. Maybe the young guys can figure it out. If not, take a first-round loss on the chin, and then put everyone but Curry up for grabs this summer. They could renovate quickly by cashing in on big names, even if it cost them next-stage darlings like [Jordan] Poole, Wiggins, or Kevon Looney. Not sure how Dubs Nation would feel about that, but no matter what happens, painful decisions are coming.”
Bob Myers Discusses Warriors Trade Plans
In addition, Warriors GM Bob Myers discussed the team’s trade deadline plans during a chat with Steiny and Guru of 95.7 The Game.
“That is the question. We gotta look and see if there’s something that makes sense to answer that question,” Myers said. “We gotta see, is there someone out there that fills that spot? Is there someone in a buyout? Is there someone in a trade? Is there someone who supplants that and becomes the seventh guy, the sixth guy? That’s our job in the next eight days.”