Warriors: 3 last-minute trade proposals ahead of the deadline
By Justin Fried
1. D’Angelo Russell
This is the big one.
No Warriors player has been at the center of more trade talks this winter than D’Angelo Russell. Various teams have shown interest in the All-Star guard with the Minnesota Timberwolves at the forefront of that discussion for a while.
But with talks between the two teams apparently dead, another team could swoop in and make a play at the last second.
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The New York Knicks were reported to have interest in Russell just a few days ago — and then they fired their team president, Steve Mills. At this point, it’s unclear whether the team still has interest but this seems like an impulse trade that owner James Dolan would make.
The Knicks were originally offering a package centering around Bobby Portis, Frank Ntilikina and draft picks, but it’s unlikely the Warriors would go for something like that.
They want Mitchell Robinson.
The young big man would be a perfect fit for the Warriors who are in need of a long-term center option, but convincing the Knicks to give him up is the hard part. On top of that, his injury history could scare Golden State away as well.
In this scenario, Dolan makes an impulse move to get Russell back in New York by trading away his young center as well as a 2020 second-round pick and a protected 2021 first-round pick.
The protection allows the Knicks to hold on to the pick for the foreseeable future until they’re at least competitive — who knows when that will be — while giving the Warriors enough compensation to agree to the trade.
Next. Warriors: Two teams closely pursuing a D’Angelo Russell trade. dark
Is this likely? Probably not.
But it’s intriguing nonetheless and a trade both sides should certainly consider.