The Warriors might be dangling an enticing chip ahead of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline.
The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II reported Wednesday, citing league sources, that Golden State is shopping its first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, intending to push teams who might be considering a trade agreement with the Warriors to pull the trigger.
“As conversations increase in advance of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, the Golden State Warriors have floated a protected version of their 2025 first-round pick around the NBA as a potential sweetener if the right deal were to materialize, league sources told The Athletic,” wrote Slater and Thompson.
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Rumors linking the Warriors to big names, such as the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler and the Chicago Bulls’ duo of Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević, have been rampant in recent days. It also is no secret that Golden State, which has hovered around .500 during the 2024-25 NBA season, is no contender as currently constructed.
Potentially trading a first-round pick makes sense for the Warriors. Steph Curry is 36 and doesn’t have a proven co-star to help the Bay’s squad compete in the stacked Western Conference, and time is running out to shake things up.
Golden State simply has to explore all avenues to improve its roster.
“The protection and timing of the pick is important,” Slater and Thompson II wrote. “League sources say the Warriors aren’t necessarily enamored with the prospects predicted to land in the back end of the first round, so losing a pick in the late teens for even a valuable rotation piece could prove plenty worth it.
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“Once it conveys, they’d retain full control of their 2026 first-rounder for any possible deals this summer. If it didn’t convey, that would mean the Warriors tumbled into the lottery and retained a high-value draft pick in a top-loaded draft that could either be moved or used. The downside is relatively minimal.”
At this point, a “minimal” downside sounds like a worthwhile risk for the Warriors. Expect general manager Mike Dunleavy and Golden State to continue dangling its 2025 first-rounder to turn the season around.