The Golden State Warriors are off to a solid 8-2 start in the first 10 games of the Kevin Durant era. Their eight wins have come by an average if 16.3 points per game.
Durant himself is having a monster start to his Warriors career. Heck, two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry is hitting on nearly 50 percent of his three-point attempts.
Are the Warriors as good as their 73-9 mark from last season? That remains to be seen. What we do know is that the defense has struggled big time without center Andrew Bogut. Through 10 games, the Warriors are yielding 108.2 points per game.
And while Klay Thompson has shown signs of life recently, he started out the season slowly.
All this leads to one report from former Warriors assistant and current Boston Celtics analyst Brian Scalabrine suggesting that Klay may be available in a trade.
“I heard this weekend that Klay Thompson may be available; I heard that rumor going around involved with a team that wears green,” Scalabrine told SiriusXM NBA Radio (h/t Bleacher Report).
Now, normally we’d take these rumors with a grain of salt. Why would the Warriors trade an individual that this one NBA legend believes is the second-best player in the Association?
More to the point, why mess with a good thing?
The reason why can’t automatically discount this is due to Scalabrine’s link to both the Warriors and the Celtics. He’s not going to throw something out there without having information to back it up. He’s connected to both organizations, which also plays a role here.
In terms of specifics, this is where it eats even more interesting.
The former NBA forward went on to suggest a hypothetical scenario that would send Thompson to the Celtics for Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Boston’s first-round pick (from Brooklyn). The Warrriors would then move that first rounder to the Philadelphia 76ers for big man Nerlens Noel.
Noel’s name has been mentioned as possible trade bait over the past several months. He’d also fit the Warriors’ need of a defensive-minded big to replace Bogut. Technically, the salaries would work out for all sides under the cap.
Okay, so this is surely a far-fetched scenario. But how many of you had Durant pegged to the Warriors this time last year? Give it some thought before automatically assuming White Mamba is out of his mind.