greenwing wrote:kodo wrote:greenwing wrote:
Kuminga was the 7th pick in his draft. Which player on the Bulls that you wouldn’t mind trading now would net you a lottery pick that high?
The trade was for Russell, who is in the same range of talent as Demar, Lavine if not lower.
I don't think that's the same situation. Russell was coming off of his first all-star appearance and was playing for a 15-win GSW team that was missing key pieces due to injury. The Warriors didn't need Russell with Curry coming back the following year from injury. That was a situation where you had two star-level players in Russell and Wiggins being traded who were both locked down for multiple year contracts. DeRozan is an expiring contract and significantly older than those guys were when they were traded for each other (Wiggins at 24 and Russell at 23). No team was going to trade a lottery pick for a possible half-season rental of DeRozan. A mid to late first rounder? Sure. But a lottery pick when he can walk? I doubt it.
Warriors fan here and for GS, the deal was ultimately KD leaving + this years 1st round pick (2024) for Wiggins + Kuminga. It was a 2 part deal for the Warriors and more complicated than face value, but it's sneakily one of the more brilliant front office maneuvers in the league in the modern era. This is actually one of those times when Lacob really can say they were Lightyears ahead or whatever it is.
The Warriors had a feeling KD was leaving (though he never declared it to them prior). So they started looking ahead and realized DLo was a pending FA while Brooklyn was a strong suitor for KD. So they did their studying up on DLo, with the idea that he COULD be a fit next to Curry and he was a guy who was about to really emerge.
To make the DLo for KD S&T to work (under new rules of the CBA), they had to get under the lux tax "apron", which meant unloading Igoudala's contract to Memphis. That's where the Warriors had to give up a (top 4 protected) pick in 2024, so the trade really is yet to be completed. I suppose it's a good thing this years draft looks sort of weak. The deal was also to include a 1st round pick going to the Nets, which is something KD insisted on for his new team (they had just given up picks to unload salary themselves to clear cap space for KD/Kyrie). The Warriors hesitated, but ultimately gave in. It was a heavily protected 1st that would convey into a 2nd the next year. That happened to be the year Steph would injure his wrist early in the season and the Warriors ended up tanking and keeping the pick....which got them Wiseman, LOL.
But they made the deal and realized VERY early on that DLo was a terrible fit next to Steph and in Kerr's system. He didn't do any of the things they wanted from him. But they also knew Minnesota was hot after DLo because they were PG starved and because he and KAT were BFFs and getting DLo would extend the window of keeping their franchise player happy (he had been unhappy with the team in prior years, with their losing and the whole Jimmy Butler debacle).
So they chatted up the Wolves. The Warriors at first wanted an unprotected pick for DLo while also absorbing the Wiggins deal. The Wolves wanted the pick heavily protected. The Warriors almost walked away from the deal, but they ultimately set it as a Top 3 protected pick.
So the Warriors got the pick and took on Wiggins' contract, which they got lambasted for. At the time it was considered one of the most undesirable contacts in the league. Wiggins with the Warriors initially didn't look all that much better than Minnesota Wiggins. They did the deal for the pick, which fell a few spots lower than what they wanted after the Wolves had a slight "surge" towards the end of the 21' season.
Side note: When the Warriors "won" the #2 pick in the draft in 2020, they really tried trading the pick from almost the begininng, but it was considered a weak draft and they weren't getting great offers. One of the guys they liked a lot was Haliburton, but they felt #2 was just too high for him. So one of the trades they had in mind was to trade back in the draft in return for the team with the lower pick taking the Wiggins contract, but nobody wanted Wiggins at the time. So they stuck there and took Wiseman (LOL again).
So the Warriors drafted Kuminga at #7 overall in 2021 when Steph was 33 and Klay/Dray also in their 30s. They took a high physical upside guy who was considered the rawest player in the lottery who was 18 on the day of the draft. A lot of people questioned that move and rightly so. Wiggins was better (from an efficiency standpoint) than he was in Minni, but not by leaps and bounds. He got better towards the end of the year and ended up being brilliant in the playoffs, when he simply defended the hell out of 2 1st All-NBA players in back to back series (Luka and then Tatum). 18 and 9 in the Finals with elite defense to close things out.
A brilliant trade that didn't look all that brilliant from the start. It helped them in the immediate future (winning a championship) while also very possibly getting them a future cornerstone player (Kuminga still has to prove it for longer, but he's just 21 and clearly surging right now). And they got this all in return for a superstar (KD) deciding to leave and a 1st round pick in a weak draft (2024). A lot of people at the time thought the Warriors were better off just letting KD walk instead of trying to get something back. Then everyone really lost their minds when they decided to take on Wiggins' contract.
So this was the case of a team picking up draft capital by taking on a bad contract. This was probably the best case scenario of making this kind of trade.