The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.
L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.
The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:
The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic explores 10 potential uses for the Warriors‘ $17MM traded player exception, assuming the team is still in position to spend big on its roster this offseason. Some of Slater’s suggested targets (such as Thaddeus Young or Dewayne Dedmon) would be far more attainable than others (like Marcus Smart or Robert Covington).
The Warriors‘ ability to spend on free agents during the 2020 offseason will be limited, but Anthony Slater of The Athletic suggests there are dozens of players who could be fits, ranging from long-shots like Paul Millsap to lower-cost options like D.J. Augustin or Meyers Leonard. In Slater’s view, veteran wing Jae Crowder would be the best fit for Golden State among the realistic mid-level-type targets.
Can Andrew Wiggins, who has a .372 winning percentage in 454 career NBA games, be a reliable contributor on a contender? That will be one of the key questions facing the Warriors during the 2020 offseason as they decide whether to stick with Wiggins or flip him in a trade, according to Mark Schanowski of NBC Sports Chicago.
The good news? Curry and Thompson should be fully healthy for ’20/21 and the Warriors’ disastrous season would give them the league’s best lottery odds if the regular season is over.
Under the NBA’s new lottery format, the worst team in the league only has a 14% chance of landing the first overall pick, so the odds are against the Warriors winning the lottery. But what if they do? What would Golden State do with the pick in that situation?
Faced with that question during a SportsCenter appearance this week, ESPN draft guru Mike Schmitz (video link) suggested that the 2020 draft has long been considered “needs-based,” since there’s no one transcendent prospect that stands head and shoulders above the rest. With that in mind, Schmitz says big man James Wiseman is a player who would fit the Warriors’ roster, suggesting the club could use that sort of rim-runner and lob-catcher on offense and rim-protector on defense.
However, Schmitz notes that if he were making the Warriors’ pick, he’d lean toward guard LaMelo Ball, whom he views as the most talented prospect in the 2020 class. As Schmitz explains, Curry isn’t a point guard who always needs the ball in his hands, so he could play alongside Ball. And Golden State would be an ideal spot for the new owner of the Illawarra Hawks to develop, Schmitz adds.
While Wiseman and Ball could both be fits, Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle has heard from multiple league sources that the Warriors aren’t believed to be particularly high on either prospect.
“I think they’d only take one of those two if they were trading down in the draft and taking them for another team,” one source told The Chronicle.
According to Letourneau, shooting guard Anthony Edwards appears likely to be Golden State’s top choice if the team lands – and keeps – the No. 1 overall pick. But the Warriors would be open to trading the first overall selection if they do win the lottery, Letourneau notes.
If the Dubs don’t get the No. 1 pick, or decide to trade down, one target might be EuroLeague forward Deni Avdija. One league source tells The Chronicle that there are teams who believe Golden State would have Avdija as high as No. 2 on its draft board, behind only Edwards. Meanwhile, Letourneau also hears that the Warriors may have guard Tyrese Haliburton higher on their board than Ball.
Given all the options the Warriors would have if they win the lottery, we want to know what you think. Which prospect do you think would be the best target for Golden State with the No. 1 pick? Or do you think the club would be better off trading that pick in the hopes of acquiring more assets or an impact veteran?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
Evan Fournier, Dennis Schroder, Will Barton and Ricky Rubio are some of the potential targets for the Warriors’ large trade exception, Brian Witt of NBC Sports Bay Area opines. Golden State possesses a trade exception worth approximately $17.2MM from its Andre Iguodala trade with Memphis last summer. It’s due to expire on July 7, though it will likely be extended if the season is resumed.
Kelly Olynyk and Dewayne Dedmon are two of the big men that the Warriors might consider with the trade exception, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. On the free agent market, unrestricted free agent Serge Ibaka would be an even better option due to his perimeter shooting and rim protection, along with his playoff experience. Meyers Leonard would be a cheaper and more realistic alternative in free agency, Slater adds.
March 26th, 2020 at 8:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
Warriors All-Star point guard Stephen Curry has been a solid voice of reason amidst the coronavirus chaos, as Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Curry hosted an informative 30-minute Q&A on his Instagram with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
During an appearance on Dell and Sonya Curry’s podcast Raising Fame, Klay Thompson‘s father Mychal Thompson talked about the respect that his son has for Warriors teammate Stephen Curry, as Josh Shrock of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “He has said it to me in private that he loves playing with Steph and he wants to retire as a Warrior after another 10 years,” the elder Thompson said.
The Jazz, Bucks, and Warriors are among the teams expected to show interest in Damyean Dotson when he becomes a free agent this offseason, sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post.
Dotson, who will turn 26 in May, has spent his first three NBA seasons with the Knicks, appearing in 165 games and averaging 7.8 PPG on .419/.361/.721 shooting in 20.1 minutes per contest. Because he only has three years of experience, he can be made a restricted free agent at season’s end if the Knicks give him a qualifying offer worth just over $2MM.
However, as Berman notes, it’s unclear whether New York will make an effort to re-sign Dotson to a new deal. The new management group isn’t the one that drafted him, and he had fallen out of the rotation prior to the NBA’s hiatus, appearing in just one of the Knicks’ last nine games.
“That seemed (to be) the writing on the wall,” one NBA scout told Berman. “You’d think they’d be still trying to develop him.”
Former Knicks head coach David Fizdale, who lauded Dotson’s “work ethic, leadership qualities, and toughness,” also praised the youngster’s willingness to be coached and expressed to Berman that the 6’5″ wing has a promising NBA future.
“He’s a game shooter and improved his handle and as a finisher,” Fizdale said. “He’s a good rebounding guard, but he still has to improve defensive awareness on the weak side. Overall he’s a solid NBA player.”
Killian Hayes, who skipped college basketball to play professionally in Germany, might be the answer the Knicks are looking for at point guard, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Hayes was born in Florida, but has spent much of his life in France, where his father was a pro.
“He’s got good size for a young point guard, close to 6’5″, and he’s got a feel for the game,’’ said former Sixers general manager Brad Greenberg, who has spent several years coaching in Europe. “He’s used to having the ball in his hands and playing in a ball-screen offense. A very nice feel.’’
Hayes, who turns 19 in July, is ranked 10th in ESPN’s latest list of draft prospects and is the third point guard on the board behind LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton. Under the current standings, the Knicks’ pick could be as high as No. 1 and as low as No. 10.
There’s more draft news to pass along:
Arizona’s Nico Mannion makes sense for the Suns if they opt for a point guard in the draft, contends Jeremy Cluff of The Arizona Republic. Cluff rounds up draft projections for Phoenix, which is currently slotted at No. 10. Ricky Rubio is under contract for two more years, but he’s 29 and the Suns may be looking for his long-term replacement.
Despite an adjusted pre-draft schedule that has already resulted in the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament and the Nike Hoop Summit, the Warriors believe they will be prepared whenever the draft arrives, according to Wes Goldberg of The San Jose Mercury News. Assistant general manager Larry Harris said the team was about 90% done with its evaluations when the sports world was shut down last week, adding that everything else would have been “finishing touches.”
Seton Hall forward Sandro Mamukelashvili plans to declare for the draft without hiring an agent, reports Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. The 6’11” junior averaged 11.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season. “It’s a great opportunity to see where he is at and where we go from here,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said. “The draft process now helps kids make educated decisions and we are looking forward to going through the process with him.”
The Warriors will be looking in the lottery for a player who can jump right into their rotation, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. The team’s director of player personnel, Larry Harris, told Poole of the plan. “Yes, we’ll try to find someone who can come in play right away,” Harris said. “But we also know that when you’re picking this high, a lot of guys are 18, 19, 20 years old. To expect them to come in and be contributors right away, we’re not so naive to think it won’t take time. But we feel there are some players in this draft, up high, that have the ability to come in and play some minutes.”