The Warriors are high on their chances to contend for a championship next season. So is ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, but there's a catch.
Smith said on "First Take" on Thursday that, as long Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are healthy, the Warriors are (at worst) one of the five best teams in the NBA. With a bit of help, Smith thinks Golden State is better than either of the contenders in Los Angeles.
"You got those two with Draymond Green, all you need is another piece," Smith said. "Another piece, a scoring forward. That's all you need! You need one piece and as far as I'm concerned, we'll be talking about the Golden State Warriors winning championships again. ... If they can have a bonafide, 20-point-per-game frontcourt scorer, the Lakers or the Clippers ain't beating 'em."
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Smith added that piece doesn't need to be as good as former Warrior Kevin Durant, or even rumored future Warrior Giannis Antetokounpo. Could that piece already be on the roster?
Curry called trade-deadline acquisition Andrew Wiggins "a walking 20 points" soon after the swingman joined the Warriors. Wiggins averaged 19.4 points per game in 12 appearances with Golden State, although all but one of those games occurred without Curry and Thompson in the lineup.
The Warriors reportedly acquired Wiggins intending to keep him, but the Canadian forward likely is the key to Golden State finding the player that Smith says the team lacks -- whether or not Wiggins is on the roster. Considering the Warriors' looming luxury tax issues in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Golden State might not be so quick to use its $17.2 million traded player exception or its taxpayer midlevel exception. Flipping Wiggins' $29.5 million cap hit in 2020-21 and the Warriors' lottery pick, then, could be the only viable path to bringing in "another piece."
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Whether it's Wiggins or somebody else, Smith thinks the Warriors need another scorer to go along with Curry and Thompson.
Integrating that player will be the easy part. Finding them? Not so much.
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