Andrew Buller-Russ
A year after finishing the season just above .500 at 44-38, the Golden State Warriors have slipped below the line at 10-14, sitting in 11th place of the Western Conference entering NBA games today. Making matters worse, the Warriors have lost three games in a row and have a record of just 4-6 in their past ten matchups.
In other words, the days of the Warriors being a dynasty are long gone, and teams around the NBA can see the writing on the wall. Yet, not all hope is lost. After all, the Warriors are just 1.5 games back of the 10th and final playoff spot in the West, and there are 58 games left to play for Golden State.
No matter which direction they decide to go, whether they’re buyers or sellers, several teams are already placing trade calls to Golden State.
This comes as no surprise to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who thinks the Warriors will be heavily involved in discussions ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. While some might think the Warriors could pull the plug and embrace a re-tooling effort, that’s not what Woj anticipates.
“This is going to be an interesting trade deadline. I think there’s so many teams right now who think they’re in position to be pretty good. And then the teams who are at the bottom of the standings, they’re going to put a great premium on giving up some of their players, because they don’t want to look like Detroit looks right now, they don’t want to look like San Antonio does. I think the asking price for good players at this trade deadline, like often, is going to be high, but I think Mike Dunleavy and Golden State, I think they’re going to be very open to try and improve this team.”
Adrian Wojnarowski on Golden State Warriors’ trade discussions
Draymond Green’s indefinite suspension only leaves the Warriors more short-handed. His playing status is unknown, but for now, Golden State knows they won’t have their intimidating power forward for the foreseeable future.
Unless a trade can be struck, coach Steve Kerr will have to continue getting creative as he looks to ignite a spark in his team. On Thursday, Coach Kerr benched Andrew Wiggins for rookie Brandin Podziemski. Even though Wiggins outscored Podziemski, it’s just one example of some changes Golden State fans could see in the next couple of months as the team looks to get back on track. Perhaps that even includes trades.
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