Getty/Ezra Shaw Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors attempts to tussle the ball away from opponent Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia Sixers at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Andrew Wiggins is in the midst of a career-best stretch that has the Golden State Warriors within one win of a return to the NBA Finals, but one insider believes that his days in the Bay Area could be coming to an end — with another All-Star coming in to replace him.
SI.com’s Ben Stinar speculated that the Warriors may be willing to take a risk that would give them one of the league’s top defensive players, and that Wiggins could be used as trade bait to land him. Other insiders have speculated that the Warriors may not afford to keep Wiggins beyond this season, as they will have some tough decisions to make regarding payroll and he could be the most likely casualty.
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Blockbuster Trade for Warriors?
Stinar noted that the Warriors have been able to maintain a nearly decade-long dynasty by taking risks, and the next risk could be making a trade with the Brooklyn Nets that sends All-Star Ben Simmons to the Bay Area. After Simmons missed all of the last season, Stinar suggested that the Warriors could land him for Wiggins in a player-for-player swap that would benefit both franchises.
“For the Nets, they just got swept in the first-round of the playoffs and Simmons’ availability is unreliable right now,” he wrote.
“Wiggins made the NBA All-Star Game this season, and he was a starter, so he is blossoming into one of the best two-way players in the entire league.The Nets need that kind of production to surround Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving with.
“Meanwhile, the Warriors have a winning formula with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, so they can afford to take the kind of risks that most teams cannot make.”
The Warriors have been connected to Simmons in the past, and Sky Sports analyst Mo Mooncey reported that the Warriors were one of his “preferred” destinations when the Philadelphia 76ers were trying to trade him.
Could Ben Simmons get traded twice before ever playing a game? 😅
Wiggins’ Days Could Be Numbered
While there were no indications that the Warriors showed interest in Simmons when he was on the trade block with the Sixers, Wiggins’ time with the team could still be coming to an end shortly. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Connor Letourneau noted that the team will need to find ways to cut salary, especially after an expected $100 million extension for breakout guard Jordan Poole. Letourneau speculated that the most likely outcome will be trading Wiggins and the $33.36 million that he’s due next season.
“As I’ve written before, the most logical way for the Warriors to cut salary is to trade Wiggins before he hits unrestricted free agency in summer 2023,” he wrote.
ARE YOU KIDDING @22wiggins ?!?!?!?!
Parting ways with Wiggins could be especially difficult after the team’s playoff run, however. The former first-overall draft pick has put together some of the best performances of his career to push the Warriors to a three-games-to-none over the Dallas Mavericks. In a Game 3 win, he scored a playoff career-high 27 points and matched his playoff career-high with 11 rebounds, while turning in one of the most memorable plays of the entire 2022 playoffs, a thunderous dunk over Luka Doncic.
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