Breaking news: 6 Golden State Warriors that may not make it through the entire season
The Golden State Warriors are not going to go meekly out into the night. They may be floundering this season, in 11th place with a losing record and no obvious answers in sight, but this is a proud group with a lot of trophies on the shelf. They aren’t afraid to make bold and painful moves to try and right the ship and make one more run with Stephen Curry.
Curry is likely the only untouchable player on the roster (who is next on that list; Klay Thompson? Or is it Brandin Podziemski already?). Anyone else could conceivably be part of a trade. Who is most likely to be involved in a future transaction? That’s a fascinating question to answer.
Let’s look at the current 14-man roster and identify which players are least likely to last the entire season in Golden State. We’ll start with the player most likely to be jettisoned and the only one who could be waived outright, then start moving up the ladder until we identify the former All-Star most likely to be a part of a trade.
No. 6: Gui Santos
This could be filed under the heading of “obvious” for those closely watching the Warriors and their salary sheet, but Gui Santos is extremely unlikely to make it the entire season in Golden State. The Warriors signed Santos because he was their cheapest pathway to a 14th player, and the CBA demanded that they have 14 players on the roster to keep three two-way players.
Santos, the Warriors’ second-round pick in 2022, signed a three-year deal with only the slightest of guarantees on it. If the Warriors have an unbalanced trade at any point they can easily waive Santos to make room. More likely, they will simply cut him when a more attractive player comes along; as the season goes on, the financial hit of that decreases, and the Warriors may want to add a veteran who can be called upon in the playoffs.
To his credit, Santos has scored efficiently and quickly when he has played. In 22 total minutes stretched across four garbage times, Santos has put up 13 points and eight rebounds, good for 21.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per 36 minutes. It’s possible that he could develop into a rotation player down the line, it’s just unlikely the Warriors stick around to see that development arc to its completion.
The Golden State Warriors once signed a veteran point guard to back up Stephen Curry, and he turned out to be an abject disaster in the Warriors’ system; that player was Brad Wanamaker, and he was shipped off to Charlotte at the Trade Deadline.
Cory Joseph is not the same case, and it’s not his fault that he has been passed in the pecking order by Brandin Podziemski, but he is shooting just 18.2 percent from deep and the Dubs’ offense has cratered when he takes the court. His true-shooting percentage of 34.1 percent is the lowest of any player in the NBA who has logged at least 145 minutes.
On second thought, this may be Brad Wanamker all over again. Whether the Warriors are dumping Joseph or including him in a deal to balance the salary sheet, there doesn’t appear to be a compelling reason to keep Joseph around if he can provide any sort of value to them by leaving.
No. 4: Moses Moody
From a guard playing poorly to one playing extremely well. Despite Steve Kerr’s annual refusal to play Moses Moody significant minutes, he is acquitting himself well when he does see the court. The Warriors score 119 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court, an above-average mark, and despite some tepid shooting the past few weeks he balances his shot diet out by scoring efficiently inside, to the tune of 60.8 percent from 3-point range.
The reason Moody could be traded is twofold. First, Steve Kerr doesn’t value him as highly in the rotation as many other teams would. That gives him more value to other teams than to the Warriors. Secondly, Moody is the young prospect easiest to include in a trade to entice a team to send their star back to the Warriors.
Still only 21 years old and the epitome of a 3-and-D player with ball-handling chops to become more, Moody is one of the Warriors’ best assets and the logical player to pair with one of their veteran contracts to hunting for another star player.
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