Minutes before the NBA Draft, a report surfaced that Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson suffered another devastating injury. Later the news was confirmed that Thompson tore his Achilles and is expected to be out for the 2020-21 season.
On the daily Locked On Warriors Podcast, host Wes Goldberg speculates on the Klay Thompson injury and believes that the Warriors have to make another move now that Klay will miss the entire season.
Wes Goldberg: The Warriors' need for depth on the perimeter is even more profound now. I think their motivation to use their trade exception just grew. Maybe before Klay Thompson's injury, they could afford to just sign an Austin Rivers or a Jeremy Lin-type player, or just bring black bring back Glenn Robinson, make moves like that.
Now, they better use this trade exception to go find somebody, because if Klay Thompson is not there, you have a huge hole to fill. Even if he is there, this is a guy now coming off of two injuries to his lower body. The Warriors better have insurance, and the trade exception is going to be the best way to find that insurance.
Now, I don't know who's out there; Ricky Rubio, Danny Green, those guys have already been moving around. Danny Green would have been a great option, he's off the table now after being moved from Oklahoma City to Philadelphia. Ricky Rubio is reportedly getting traded back to the Timberwolves where he started his NBA career.
I don't know where that leaves the Warriors with the trade exception. Do you call the Nets about Spencer Dinwiddie? Would New Orleans listen on George Hill? The Knicks have Wayne Ellington sitting there as a three-point shooter; it's not ideal, especially defensively, but maybe that's an option. Would the Pelicans be willing to give up JJ Redick?
Here's one for you; the Rockets are probably motivated to get off of Eric Gordon, if the Warriors think that he can have a bounce-back year I'm sure they'd be more than willing to give him up. That's a tough salary to swallow if you're Golden State, so I don't know about that.
They need to use this trade exception now on somebody though, to either backup Klay Thompson or play minutes that he isn't going to be able to fill this season. If I'm the Warriors, now that Wiseman's here, that's my next order of business. Regardless of what happens with Klay Thompson here, I need to make sure that I use this trade exception by the expiration date on November 23, to make sure that I have insurance in case he can't go, and then I'm filling out the rest of the roster with the mid-level exception and things like that.
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