Getty Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson look on during a playoff bout between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings.
The Golden State Warriors need to shake things up, which means the roster can’t look the same in four weeks as it does now.
Golden State can go in several directions, though arguably the most painless is to deal either Chris Paul — recently, and for the better part of two decades, a reviled and lesser rival of the Dubs’ Big 3 — or Andrew Wiggins, who was a critical piece in the organization’s last championship but hasn’t been close to that player in the two years since.
Tim Kawakami of The Athletic wrote on Thursday, January 11, that it will be Wiggins the Warriors want to part with most.
It’d probably be an upset if Andrew Wiggins is still with the Warriors after Feb. 8. He remains a popular member of the team and nobody will ever forget what he did to help them to the 2022 title. But his game just has fallen off a cliff from the start of this season; this whole Jenga puzzle broke apart when the established starting lineup staggered out of the gate this season and nobody’s more responsible for that than Wiggins.
Also, the Warriors’ payroll would look a lot better if they could move the $84.6 million he’s owed over the next three seasons.
Warriors Need to Add Valuable Chip to Move Off Andrew Wiggins
GettyAndrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors.
Dealing Wiggins won’t be as simple as picking up the phone and calling a rival franchise, however.
He is actually on a reasonable contract that pays him $109 million over this season and the next three combined. That’s not too bad for a 28-year-old wing starter in today’s NBA, but the way Wiggins has played this year has his trade value at, or at least near, an all-time low.
Kawakami noted that reality and floated a couple of trade chips the Warriors could throw into a Wiggins deal to make it more palatable to whichever team they’re trying to send him.
“Would [GM Mike] Dunleavy and [owner Joe] Lacob sign off on adding Moses Moody to the deal just to get a team to take Wiggins’ salary? Would it take adding a future first-round pick?” Kawakami wrote. “I doubt the Warriors want to subtract talent just to discard Wiggins, but it might come to that.”
Warriors Have Better Chance to Land Pascal Siakam by Trading Chris Paul
Getty Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors (right) guards Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors (left) during an NBA game.
The question is who the Warriors want to get back in return or, perhaps more aptly, who they can get back if they trade Wiggins or Paul. The answer may be more favorable if Paul is the centerpiece of a deal, as he is playing on a $31 million expiring contract that will come off his new team’s books this summer.
Kawakami floated Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors as a viable target on Thursday, as that organization is trying to move the 6’8″ forward and two-way star before he departs in free agency next offseason.
The Warriors likely wouldn’t mind jumping into a short-term rental of somebody like Toronto’s Pascal Siakam if they don’t have to put [Jonathan] Kuminga into the trade. Would Paul’s expiring contract plus Moody plus a future first-round pick do it? How about if they offer [Brandin] Podziemski instead of Moody? And would the Warriors be confident that a few months in the Bay Area would convince Siakam to re-sign here?
Again, unanswerable, but I suspect that Siakam is the kind of potential difference maker — somebody who could theoretically lift the Warriors up a level or two this season and, if he re-signs, also into a post-[Steph] Curry era — that Dunleavy and Lacob feel is worth a bit of a gamble.
Siakam, a two-time All-Star, turns 30 years old in April. He is currently averaging 22.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists across 37 games played this season, per Basketball Reference.