Nets veterans Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dennis Schröder have all generated trade interest early this season, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Insider link), who reports that Brooklyn has begun to have exploratory discussions involving the trio.
The Warriors are among the clubs that have expressed interest in those three players, sources tell Charania, who adds that rival teams believe Golden State is willing to use De’Anthony Melton‘s $12.8MM expiring contract and draft assets in a trade. Melton suffered a season-ending ACL injury last month.
While the wording of Charania’s report suggests Golden State has expressed interest in all three of those Nets trade candidates, Johnson looks to me like a less likely target for the Warriors. He has a $22.5MM cap hit and another $4.5MM in unlikely incentives that count toward the tax aprons, which could be problematic for a Warriors team operating right up against its hard cap.
Besides being a complicated fit from a salary perspective, Johnson is the player (of those three Nets) whose skill set overlaps least with Melton’s, so if Golden State is seeking a replacement for its injured guard, he’s not an obvious fit. But he’s off to a great start this season — his 18.8 points per game, 48.8% field goal percentage, and 43.4% three-point percentage would all be career highs.
Finney-Smith ($14.9MM) and Schröder ($13MM) have salaries in the range of Melton’s and have more in common with the 26-year-old guard on the court. Finney-Smith is a solid, versatile defender capable of knocking down three-point shots (a career-best 43.2% this season), while Schröder is a talented ball-handler, scorer, and play-maker whose 38.5% three-point rate and 2.5 three-pointers per game this season are career highs.
Besides having more modest cap hits, Finney-Smith and Schröder also have shorter-term contracts than Johnson. Schröder will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025 while Finney-Smith can join him by turning down his 2025/26 player option worth $15.4MM. Johnson’s contract runs through the 2026/27 season.
The Nets project to have the most cap room of any NBA team during the 2025 offseason, so they’ll likely try to avoid taking on multiyear contracts in any deal involving Finney-Smith and/or Schröder.
Besides registering interest in role players like the Nets’ trio, the Warriors remain interested in adding a star – ideally a play-maker and scorer – who could complement Stephen Curry, Charania reiterates.
Charania made a similar point during an NBA Today appearance last week, noting that Golden State will try to determine in the two months leading up to the February 6 trade deadline whether forward Jonathan Kuminga can become that sort of impact player or whether the club will need to keep trying to acquire a star via trade. The Warriors expressed trade interest over the summer in both Paul George and Lauri Markkanen.
GS should only be looking at C’s and backup PG’s in a trade
Lakers should go after Dennis S. Vincent and two or three 2nds for Dennis S
Finney-Smith is a nice backup and Cameron Johnson’s contract is horrible. A SF in any other era
Payton, Melton and one 2nd for Nikola Vucevic
Sign E Payton and Fultz. Have the team practice FTs
Why are you guys so into Elfrid Payton? He can’t hold down a roster spot?
Nets and Warriors are friends
Nets sent DLo to Warriors
Warriors turn DLo into Wiggins and Kuminga
Reason warriors did the trade was not to lose Durant cap space. Nets did it for the draft pick that they received. Nets are A warriors are not friends just business partners.
This guy must be related to Babey J
Warriors could use Kai Jones
Decent idea. Fits the age range of Beekman, Podz, Moody, Kuminga and Jackson-Davis
Post. What about me
Jessup. Sitting overseas. What about me
That yellow haired kid. I forgot his name. what about me
Plowden. What about me
Your “what about me kids” are all struggling in the GLeague. So, no reason to think about them.
Jessup and Nico are not there. They are on the other side of the planet right now
Jessup is a 26 year old SG GS had drafted
Sounds more like the type of trade the warriors would do. All 3 the warriors can afford. Just hate these dumb rumors of LeBron or Butler when the warriors have no cap space for them.
They do if they add Wiggins
arc89, you are right: LeBron’s huge contract makes deal impossible. A Butler trade is (barely) possible but would gut the team. And we aren’t going into the luxury tax.
SCHROEDER would be a perfect fit. And, with Steph nursing a chronic knee injury, we desperately need another PG. Podz is the only other one on the roster.
Unless the trade is a GREAT offer, I don’t see Sean Marks trading 2/3 guys aforementioned to the SAME team. I think it’s wise if the distributes all three to different teams, again if the offer is something he cannot refuse then include 2/3 guys.
Brooklyn will not be drafting in top 5 anyways given the way they have played thus far. I see more of a 10-15 range is within their likelihood.
The Nets have 6 picks in 2025; 2 of the picks are second round.
So are you suggesting they trade up?
It would be a nightmare to incorporate all those draft picks into their roster next season. They have a ton of cap space. They can easily add two big names, or add depth to their rotation. So, swing for the fences, or stockpile for the future.
I think they could sell both those 2nd round picks for June and get some cash? Also, don’t forget that Ben Simmons’ deal is coming off the books. I don’t think they will trade up unless they love Flagg or Harper/Bailey.
I included Simmons.
The Nets will make a trade for sure. Schroder would ve great for the nuggets.
Shroeder Johnson & Finney for Porter Braun Naji and a 2031 1st
Just give the Nuggets the championship early if that happens, but the Nets could get much better offers elsewhere.
A man can dream right? lol
^ unless you are me. I cant even post “Im dreaming here but…” without these 2 IQ losers breaking down why that trade “WILL NEVER HAPPEN” even though through multi-team trades, any trade is possible. Clowns on here refuse to admit that and don’t apply that logic to any trade idea posted on here. Like if someone says “player A for player B” that means the BASELINE of the trade, and then OBVIOUSLY a trade can add more players, teams, picks or money to even everything out. Sniveling debatelord losers on here refuse to acknowledge this FACT and it results in low quality reply guy posting.
Warriors lack payroll they can send out. There is no bad contract like last year with Klay. So these big names is not coming to the warriors. Why trade Wiggins when they need him. A contract under $20 million is all they can trade for.
acr89, thats why all my trade ideas are multi-teamers. Any money issues can be solved by another team paying for draft capital. This is an obvious aspect of all trade ideas that for some reason no one on here understands.
You can’t make up that much in draft capital.
The Nuggets covet Braun big time – a young, cheap and talented two-way starting guard. He has a lot of value to them, and I can’t see them including him in a deal where 2 out of 3 guys are gone after the season.
@cam if the nuggets don’t trade one of their large contracts Braun will be too expensive to keep. He’s a free agent after next season and has played himself into a chunky contract.
Why not go for Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson and Schroder in a multi-teamer?
Same thing goes for Jimmy, Bam and Herro from Miami?
I think if GSW is going to make a move they should go after multiple guys from the same team so the chemistry stays in tact.
In the ESPN article, Shams Sharania says:
> In his career, Kuminga has played 30 minutes or more
> in 41 games, averaging 20 points, 54% field goal
> shooting and 40% from 3.
NBA GM’s aren’t blind to Kerr’s refusal to give Kuminga more than 30 minutes until the 20th game of this season. And, as Shams also said, there is no NBA player that is currently averaging fewer minutes relative to statistical achievement than Kuminga.
Recently, NBA players and analysts like Danny Green and Gilbert Arenas have accused the Warriors of deliberately reducing Kuminga’s contract value by not playing him. I doubt that’s Kerr’s motivation, but the alternative explanations aren’t favorable either.
WOW. Shams career has really taken a nosedive. 41 games is 17% of Kuminga’s career, or 14 games a season. What about the other 192 games, or 83% of his career? Those numbers take a nosedive.
Giants74,
JK just turned 22. Those 41 games were almost all at the end of last season. As in the period that is the most recent, and the period the front office based a $150M offer on.
Yes he plays much better when he starts, but when he doesn’t he still scores 22 pts per 34 minutes.
It’s not just Shams. It’s a talking point in national media. Something weird is up with Kerr and Kuminga.
You are ignoring some things about statistics. Past performance doesn’t guarantee a future performance. To make predictions, you need a large sample size. For example, ZIPs uses 3 years. He may have shot 40% for 41 games. But for 74 games, he shot 32%. This season, he is shooting 31%. Any player can go on streak. They need to be able to maintain it over multiple seasons. That is how you get the big bucks.
I wouldn’t take espn too seriously
ESPN has a lot of airtime and salaries to pay. They need to come up with gibberish to keep eyeballs glued…Kuminga is shooting 31% on 3.5 3 point attempts this season. I think we can see Kerr’s reluctance.
> I think we can see Kerr’s reluctance.
Didn’t Kerr just announce Kuminga was the starting PF?
Time to take the L on Kuminga, Giants74.
Kuminga was in the starting lineup on opening night. Then he was benched in favor of Melton. Melton got injured and Waters started. That didn’t work out. Now Heild is starting. They are all better 3 point shooters. I wouldn’t be surprised if it changes again.
Giants74, you’re all on your own now.
Time to take the L
Giants74 is right
It makes zero sense why a guy would perform so much better only when given 30+ minutes vs, say, the mid 20s mins he’s averaging this year. We’re not talking about a young player in and out of the rotation, being given no offensive role, playing very few minutes, etc.; in those situations, you could understand why a jump to 30mins could be so impactful. Not the case with Kuminga, at least not with respect to this season. So absent critically missing context, those numbers are meaningless in the present tense.
It’s a different story if you want to overlay that with rotations, role, whatever. Otherwise, I wouldn’t take those numbers anymore seriously than Kerr clearly isn’t. There is still skill necessary in properly interpreting stats/advanced stats.
Babey J trade suggestion makes me believe that he really does not understand that the NBA does not revolve around the Warriors
He’s auditioning to be dollar store Stephen A Smith. I like his chances!
Anyone who runs here thinking about me and my takes…I own you. Is that what you are OPENLY BRAGGING about?? I would not do that. Ever notice who doesn’t run here to bring up specific posters in a cowardly way to bully and harass someone who doesn’t think about you? I only think about basketball takes and how the Warriors can improve their roster or win more games. Why aren’t you all like that? If I owned you in an argument that you resorted to slurs in because you have never been told you are wrong before and it causes you to use slurs and bully speech on me, just own it and move on, I already have….
Lmao didn’t and don’t own me with your lies and fanboy ways I pointed out regarding Steph and MJ. Infact, you refused to talk to me ever again after being schooled infront of everybody. Basic troll lies and attempt to spread misinformation as factual while trying to look clever at the same time. Total and epic failure. Tell us all again how the warriors are winning the chip with strength in numbers and trading for Luka, Giannis, Jokic, lbj etc. Tell us how clutch Steph is again lol.
I can’t recall but isn’t this the SAME dude who once infamously said in 2022 that Wiggins is playing at MJ’s level? Or was that someone else? Lmao
Recently, he also called Steve Kerr a Nepo Baby. Kerr’s grandfather and father spent their lives in Lebanon, not the NBA. His father was murdered 40 years ago.
Maybe he thought Lebannon Indiana and not the country?
That would be him. My most recent favorite is that we’re only a couple months away from Kuminga becoming prime Lebron. The guy can’t help himself
Strength in numbers then puts everyone on the trade block. Wish casting and wanting all the stars to be on the Warriors. Seriously, someone needs to reign the clown back to the carnival.
Giants74- should we include Kuminga’s high school and AAU stats as well? It would increase the sample size.
Obviously, the Warriors disagree with your methodology, as they offered him $30M/$150M after his third year. As Lakob and Dunleavy said publicly, and as Sharania discusses in his article, Kuminga had a breaktrough year. Now, he’s officially the Warriors starting center.
Take the L.
Correction: “Starting PF”, not “Starting C”
I’m not sure what you are upset about. Kuminga’s shooting is down this season. In fact, 3 of the players from their most successful lineup last season are having down seasons. You can’t give them major minutes if they are not playing well. Draymond is coming off the bench to help get Kuminga going. You can’t get to the post season with struggling players.
Giants74, I’m not upset in the least.
You ridiculed the featured ESPN/ Sharania and the indisputable statistics he provides on Kuminga. That on its own defeats your credibility.
I’m merely trying to rescue you from a DaveyJ-like denial of the facts, especially those of this last week.
Its a difficult thing when events of the present demolish a position you’ve fought for so hard and so long. Kerr says Kuminga has “arrived”, is now the starting PF, and the team is committed to maximizing him. Draymond states that Kuminga start for the duration of his Warriors career and that he is a future superstar.
Take the L
not sure any of these players move the needle, especially if you have to give up on young players that the Dubs were so reluctant to include during the past off-season.