Other teams reportedly think Warriors will make Andrew Wiggins available via trade
Near the top of the list of things that have gone wrong in Golden State this season is Andrew Wiggins' regression. The guy who was arguably the second-best Warrior during the 2022 NBA Finals — the one who got a four-year, $109 million extension from the team — is averaging 11.9 points a game (down from 17.1 last season), shooting 29.7% from 3 (39.6% last season), and he hasn't defended nearly as well as he has in the past. On top of that, when Wiggins and the team's other athletic wing, Jonathan Kuminga, share the court the Warriors have a -17 net rating, forcing Kerr to essentially platoon the two.
With the Warriors stumbling and looking in need of a shakeup, other front offices expect the Warriors to test the market for a Wiggins trade, reports Marc Stein on his #thisleagueuncut podcast.
"When I talk to other teams more and more, I'm hearing that there's an anticipation now that the Warriors will be open to trading Andrew Wiggins, because Wiggins and Kuminga, when they've played together, the Warriors would be the first to tell you it hasn't gone well."
Teams calling the Warriors will ask first about Kuminga — an improving 21-year-old athletic wing averaging 12.8 points a game, and the guy Kerr moved into the starting lineup over Wiggins for a while (last game he tried to start both and it failed). Don't expect Kuminga to get traded for a couple of reasons: 1) He has supporters high up the power structure in Golden State so it will take a lot to pry him away; 2) Even if Kuminga is paired with Chris Paul's expiring $30 million salary for a big splash trade, who are the Warriors going to get in a deal that is really going to change their season at this point? Pascal Siakam? To give up a promising young player like Kuminga, the Warriors will need to be blown away.
On the other hand, the Warriors might love the idea of Wiggins, but now he is at his lowest value in years. What team wants to take on the $84.7 million Wiggins is owed in the three seasons after this one? Maybe some team thinks it's worth a flier and believes they can rejuvenate him, but teams will not give up much to take that chance (the Warriors may have to throw in a sweetener).
The Warriors have some hard decisions coming up — Trade Kuminga? Trade Wiggins? Trade Moses Moody? How big a contract should Klay Thompson get and for how many years? — but it may be the offseason before any or all of those are answered. While the Warriors' string of losses and questionable play puts pressure on the front office to do something, they need to step back, look at the big picture and ask "to what end?" Should the Warriors trade an athletic 21-year-old to make the team marginally better? Do they sit on everything and wait to make moves in the summer?
In the short term, the Warriors will see if they can get anything of value for Wiggins.
