The Warriors are expected to stand pat as the NBA’s trade deadline at noon PT on Thursday looms.
Golden State president of basketball operations/general manager Bob Myers last week told reporters that the Warriors are happy with their current mix of 15 players on the NBA roster, despite the team’s lack of frontcourt depth.
Myers and the Warriors are banking on the returns of injured forward Draymond Green and second-year center James Wiseman, who is yet to appear in a game this season. Wiseman joined his teammates for a non-contact practice Saturday, but The Athletic’s Anthony Slater told 95.7’s The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Monday that it’s too early to get excited about Wiseman’s potential return just yet. You can listen to the full interview above.
“I’ve said this to people for weeks,” Slater told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “Until you hear he is doing contact, he’s not close. If he’s still not capable of playing on the court with other people, then I wouldn’t start the countdown clock to his return. He is doing increased individual activity, but I could have told you that three months ago, two months ago.”
Wiseman hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since injuring his meniscus on an awkward fall last April. Since November, the Warriors have told reporters on multiple occasions that Wiseman is close to contact work, but he’s yet to play in a scrimmage. As Slater first reported, Wiseman’s recovery has also been slowed by an arthroscopic surgery in December.
Green told reporters he hopes to return to the Warriors near the end of February as he regains back and calf strength.
Myers acknowledged the Warriors could explore the buyout market if the right fit is available, but the Warriors are already footing the tab for a base $175.2 million payroll that is far above the $136.6 million luxury tax threshold. According to Spotrac, the Warriors are facing a whopping $170.3 million luxury tax bill this season.
“They’re not going to add money,” Slater said. “They’re already pretty stacked from a tax bill perspective. The only thing I could see is maybe a buyout big. Somewhat of a dream scenario is if Marc Gasol wanted to come back to the league. I don’t know if either side would be interested, but I know in the past when Marc Gasol signed with the Lakers they were trying to get Marc Gasol and almost did. It’s a couple years later and Marc Gasol is a couple years closer to retirement. He’s now over in Spain right now and he’s hinted at an interest of maybe coming back to the league. But somebody in that vein.”
Gasol just turned 37 on Jan. 29 and is on the roster with Bàsquet Girona, a club he founded in Catalonia in 2014. The 6-foot-11 center has played in five games this season but not since Jan. 20 due to a hamstring strain, according to El Periódico Mediterráneo. In the four contests before he exited with his injury, Gasol averaged 18.8 points and 12.8 rebounds per game in the LEB Oro league, which is Spain's second-highest tier of club basketball.
Gasol represented Spain at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer and played in 57 games in 2020-21 with the Los Angeles Lakers. His passing ability seems like it would fit in well with Golden State’s free-flowing offense, but there is another part of this equation – who do you take off the roster?
Listen to Bay Area sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Warriors team gear
Overall, the market just doesn’t seem strong enough for what the Warriors are seeking.
“They thought about Paul Millsap this summer, but then Millsap went to Brooklyn and was really bad, out of their rotation and is currently, basically trying to get a buyout from Brooklyn, Slater said. “The big options we’re talking about, I’m not sure they would help out much better than a [Nemanja] Bjelica has been helping in a certain role right now, which is as a skilled, spaced big.
“Maybe you get more size and brute type of big, but he’s gonna have flaws, too, that would make us question if he would even be in a playoff rotation. My sense is as they head towards the deadline, they head towards the buyout market, the expectation is, they’re not going to be able to find a cheap upgrade than the 15 guys they have.”
What about Jonathan Kuminga? Is the rookie prepared to handle an everyday role at center?
“You're the brains of the defense back there,” Slater said. “Centers are probably the most important defensive position in the NBA and you just do not trust Jonathan Kuminga as a smallball five role. That’s, ‘Hey, you’re banging down there with Nikola Jokic and you have to know all the pick-and-roll coverages.’ It’s what makes [Kevon] Looney so valuable. You hear the players talk about him and he calls out every coverage, he’s always there making the smart rotations. Centers matter a lot defensively.”
