Warriors now viewed as ‘clear’ partner in trade for elite forward if they don’t land LeBron James
Warriors now viewed as ‘clear’ partner in trade for elite forward if they don’t land LeBron James originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Golden State Warriors just frankly aren’t a talented enough team at the moment to suggest that they have an opportunity to be real contenders next season. With the hope that LeBron James will eventually sign with the Warriors, even if that’s very unrealistic at the moment, I don’t want to count them out just yet.
However, if Golden State were to miss out on James, as the expectation around the NBA seems to suggest, there should be other trade targets available to them. It remains uncertain whether the Warriors would be interested in moving on from assets unless they get a perfect player, but there aren’t many of those available at the moment.
One player who could make a major impact, however, is Trey Murphy, and the idea of him landing in Golden State was recently floated.
“A report from The Athletic on Monday that talks around a Trey Murphy trade “could resurface” certainly raises some hopes among followers of the NBA trade rumor mill, but the fact remains that Murphy is a tough nut to crack. If James winds up in Miami or Cleveland, the Warriors would be a clear potential partner for Murphy, which is likely why trade talks around him have been shelved for most of the month.
“The Celtics are the other obvious potential suitor, but the Hawks are likely out after bringing in Lu Dort,” Sean Deveney wrote.
As Deveney touched on here, the New Orleans Pelicans are probably holding off for the James situation to unfold before they decide what they want to do with Murphy.
There have been conflicting reports on whether they’ll actually move on from him, but there wouldn’t be a reason to do so until a team gets desperate after missing out on James or other players they want this year.
More NBA news:
- Heat expected to have hard time making trade young guard with huge upside
- Why Heat fans think they just signed LeBron James
- Lakers trade idea brings in $30M ex-Luka Doncic teammate and hardly moves any assets
- Jalen Brunson makes repeat comment that will have fans running through a brick wall
- 76ers, Cavaliers, and Warriors get the perfect news on LeBron James’ pursuit
