Warriors Could Trade for $114 Million ‘Stephen Curry Replacement’: NBA Exec

While there was not much interest on the part of the Golden State Warriors to get involved in a trade for Dejounte Murray at the February trade deadline, that very well could change in the offseason as the Warriors re-evaluate their situation and chart a path forward in the final years of Stephen Curry’s star career. At that point, Golden State still had some hope that Chris Paul and some solid play from its young pieces would be enough to ignite a late run.

To an extent that happened—the Warriors were 27-13 from January 30 on, and won 46 games. That was not quite enough in the competitive West, though, and the Dubs ultimately flamed out against the Kings in the play-in game.

Now, the thought is that perhaps the Warriors do not need an overhaul this offseason. And one of the ways they could do that would be to upgrade at Paul’s spot, which is where Murray could come in.

“Of all the guys they might be able to trade for, he is probably realistic because he does not make a ton of money and they could add him, put him in Chris Paul’s spot, give up two first-round picks and now you’ve gotten some defense in there, you’ve got another scorer in there, you have a guy who make some sense,” one Western Conference exec said.

“He’s 6-foot-5, he can guard three spots, he is an OK shooter and he won’t break your bank.”

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Warriors Hoping to Improve & Save Money

Indeed, not breaking the bank is of some concern to the Warriors this offseason, as the team hopes to remove itself from the increasingly punitive repeater tax. The hope of the team, as owner Joe Lacob told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, is not just to rein in the tax, but to get under the threshold altogether.

The Warriors have some pathways to that—letting Klay Thompson walk in free agency, moving on from Kevon Looney, trading Andrew Wiggins and/or Gary Payton II. Swapping Paul to the Hawks with two picks (they can trade their 2026 and 2028 picks) for Murray would save the Warriors some money and upgrade the roster.

Or, they could send out Wiggins to the Hawks and simply not pick up Paul’s contract for next season.

The Warriors may be in more of a market for a wing. But Murray is big and averaged a career-high 22.5 points this season in Atlanta, making 45.9% of his shots and 36.3% of his 3-point tries. He continues to show remarkable durability despite having undergone ACL surgery in his third NBA season—he played 78 games this year after having played 74 last season.

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DeJounte Murray a Post-Stephen Curry Option

And there is a long-term potential benefit to adding Murray: Curry is 36 and won’t be playing all that much longer. Murray can help the Warriors win now, and help soften the blow whenever Curry decides to hang up this high tops.

“No one is gonna replace Steph,” the exec said. “But that team needs to look at everybody they might think of getting and ask, ‘Stephen Curry replacement?’ ‘Stephen Curry replacement?’ If you can bring in Murray, you’ve got a point guard for the next five or 10 years if you want him. That’s a start on replacing him.”

More immediately, though, adding Murray retools a roster with a younger cast around Curry, for a team that probably needs more of Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Brandin Podzienski and Trayce Jackson-Davis going forward. That’s better for 2024-25. And better beyond.

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