The Golden State Warriors need to shake things up, which means the roster can’t look the same in four weeks as it does now.
Golden State can go in several directions, though arguably the most painless is to deal either Chris Paul — recently, and for the better part of two decades, a reviled and lesser rival of the Dubs’ Big 3 — or Andrew Wiggins, who was a critical piece in the organization’s last championship but hasn’t been close to that player in the two years since.
Tim Kawakami of The Athletic wrote on Thursday, January 11, that it will be Wiggins the Warriors want to part with most.
Dealing Wiggins won’t be as simple as picking up the phone and calling a rival franchise, however.
He is actually on a reasonable contract that pays him $109 million over this season and the next three combined. That’s not too bad for a 28-year-old wing starter in today’s NBA, but the way Wiggins has played this year has his trade value at, or at least near, an all-time low.
Kawakami noted that reality and floated a couple of trade chips the Warriors could throw into a Wiggins deal to make it more palatable to whichever team they’re trying to send him.
“Would [GM Mike] Dunleavy and [owner Joe] Lacob sign off on adding Moses Moody to the deal just to get a team to take Wiggins’ salary? Would it take adding a future first-round pick?” Kawakami wrote. “I doubt the Warriors want to subtract talent just to discard Wiggins, but it might come to that.”
The question is who the Warriors want to get back in return or, perhaps more aptly, who they can get back if they trade Wiggins or Paul. The answer may be more favorable if Paul is the centerpiece of a deal, as he is playing on a $31 million expiring contract that will come off his new team’s books this summer.
Kawakami floated Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors as a viable target on Thursday, as that organization is trying to move the 6’8″ forward and two-way star before he departs in free agency next offseason.
Siakam, a two-time All-Star, turns 30 years old in April. He is currently averaging 22.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists across 37 games played this season, per Basketball Reference.
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