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The Golden State Warriors are attempting to pull off one of the trickiest roster-building exercises in professional sports. They are trying to maintain their status as contenders, their veteran core led by none other than Stephen Curry, all the while developing young prospects that could soon take up the mantle once the veterans move on or fall off. However, some of those prospects, most notably James Wiseman, have not developed as well as they would have hoped.
Thus, it's no surprise that plenty around the league envision a scenario where the Warriors decide to trade their young prospects in exchange for pieces that could help them win now. Nevertheless, the Warriors reportedly remain unwilling to do so, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Instead of a “loud” trade deadline, fans should expect the Warriors to “nibble on the fringes” instead of pulling off a “substantial” roster shuffle. This means that James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody are more likely than not to remain with the Warriors past the February 9 trade deadline.
Other teams could try as much as they want to swing a trade for those aforementioned youngsters, but Slater added that the Warriors are not in “sell-low mode”, which makes a potential deal much trickier to navigate. The Warriors appear to think that they're much better off trying to squeeze as much development as they could out of those three.
Alas, if the Warriors continue to play uninspired, .500 basketball, the shrewdest move for Golden State might be to utilize James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody as trade assets. Nevertheless, with Wiseman already being the eldest among the three at 21 years old, they still have plenty of time to figure out how to contribute to a contending team.
