The Golden State Warriors (19-20) will look to get back to .500 for the fifth time this season when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves (21-18) on the road on Wednesday night.
Nearing the halfway point of the 2024-25 campaign, some members of Dub Nation are pushing for the team to make a blockbuster trade in an effort to move up the standings and pursue another run at a championship.
With that in mind, ESPN senior writer Chris Herring was among four insiders at the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” to come up with five trade proposals that would “shake up the league and the postseason picture.” Herring’s idea involves a two-time All-Star being shipped to the Bay Area for a package including one former Rookie of the Year, a son of a Basketball Hall-of-Famer, one big man who’s won three titles with the Warriors and a 2026 first-round pick.
The 2025 NBA trade deadline is Feb. 6.
ESPN Senior Writer Explains How Proposed Deal Gets Dubs ‘Back on Track’
Here’s Herring’s Bulls-Warriors blockbuster trade proposal, which he wrote would get Golden State “back on track.”
Bulls receive: Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney, Golden State’s 2026 first-round pick
Warriors receive: Zach LaVine
Zach LaVine has been at the center of loads of trade rumors during his seven-plus seasons in the Windy City.
After three campaigns with the Timberwolves to begin his career, the UCLA product was traded to the Bulls during the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft in a deal that landed Jimmy Butler in Minnesota. LaVine was limited to a career-low 24 contests in his first season with Chicago as he recovered from knee surgery, but broke out during the 2018-19 campaign, posting then-career bests in points (23.7), rebounds (4.7) and assists per game (4.5), as well as field goal percentage (.467).
His best season came in 2020-21, when he recorded career highs in points (27.4) and assists per contest (4.9) while making the first of his two straight All-Star teams. LaVine had an injury-riddled 2023-24 campaign, undergoing season-ending foot surgery last February, but has bounced back big time this winter. He’s posted 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game across 35 contests, along with career highs in field goal (.515) and three-point field goal percentage (.455).
“It has been an odd couple of seasons for LaVine and the Bulls, who have both seemingly been the subject of trade rumors for years. The swingman’s value has been all over the map, ranging from extremely low last season — so much so that Chicago would have had to attach assets to unload him and his $40 million-plus salary — to now being a net positive again as the 29-year-old is playing arguably the best ball of his career … It’s not merely volume scoring, either. Both his effective field goal rate and true shooting percentage rank second in the league among players taking 15 shots per game — trailing only Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns and ranking ahead of MVP favorites Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. … LaVine has thrived when he has called his own number this season, shooting 49.5% and notching 116 points per 100 possessions on iso plays, which put him in the league’s 91st percentile. That is music to any suitor’s ears, particularly a team such as Golden State that wants more reliable production beyond future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry,” Herring wrote. “Perhaps most appealing for a club such as the Warriors, though, is the fact that LaVine has shown the ability to effectively play off the ball as an elite catch-and-shoot option and a cutter. Both traits are key to coach Steve Kerr’s offense.”
Recent Report Says LaVine’s Stellar Play Makes Contract Not ‘Nearly as Untenable’ as Before
The NBA insider admits that while the LaVine-Stephen Curry pairing would be dangerous for any opponent, there could be “hesitation” for the Dubs to offer such a trade due to them being “unsure of parting ways with an upcoming first-round pick, given they might need to reload with Curry at age 36.”
“Are they close enough to contending for such a deal to be worth it? And do they want to part with so much institutional knowledge? Wiggins, Payton and Looney were members of the 2022 championship team,” Herring wrote.
Sam Amick of The Athletic also addressed LaVine’s rising trade value in a report on Wednesday, saying that the 2014 first-round pick’s $95 million owed over the next two seasons isn’t “nearly as untenable” as it was before. Amick argued that the “undeniable truth” is that the Bulls “simply can’t afford to miss this opportunity to reshape their roster.”
Outside of the future first-round pick, Golden State would be giving up one of their better two-way players in Andrew Wiggins, as well as two bench pieces in Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney.
The trio of Warriors were all a part of the 2022 title-winning squad. LaVine, meanwhile, has only four games of postseason experience, when the Bulls were swept in the first round of that spring’s Eastern Conference playoffs.
A move out west could give him a chance to finally get back to the postseason.
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Warriors Land 2-Time All-Star in Blockbuster Trade Proposal