The Golden State Warriors are likely to lock down the worst record in the league this season, but the rest of the league knows this fantasy won't last for long. The title runner-ups will likely get to keep the conditional first-round pick they traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the Kevin Durant sign-and-trade, along with a likely top-five selection if they managed to finish with one of the worst records in the league — a proposition that scares teams around the league if the Warriors could add another All-Star caliber player to a soon-healthy roster.
“The people I talk to around the league are really worried they are going to trade that first-round pick, the 2020 pick because if they load up with an All-Star-type player with that pick, they are terrified,” Tom Haberstroh said during the Warriors-Hornets telecast on NBC Sports Bay Area on Wednesday. “Or if they land a Luka Doncic in the draft, they're terrified. So that 2020 pick, adding to the group they have established here with [Eric] Paschall stepping in right away, man, I think every team is going to try to do a gap year.”
The Warriors are losing at a precipitous rate with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson out for a long while, but that is only a temporary illusion the league will have for a season before they return and pick up where they left off. Yet drafting a James Wiseman, Anthony Edwards, or LaMelo Ball was certainly not in the cards for most anticipating the Warriors returning in full force.
Golden State could pony up yet another juggernaut lineup only one year removed from Durant's exit, and that is a proposition the rest of the league didn't expect. It all remains still months in the future, though, very much depending on how the NBA Draft Lottery plays out and how lucky the Warriors get with the ping pong balls come May.
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