The Warriors have reportedly turned down a trade proposal for All-NBA player Kevin Durant.
The gs warriors roster is a report that the Golden State Warriors turned down a trade proposal for an all-NBA player.
courtesy of Getty Images General manager Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors goes by Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors.
On Thursday, July 29, the Golden State Warriors might have added a three-time All-Star to their roster. Instead, they left the table and went away.
According to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Golden State has passed on former Rookie of the Year and All-NBA pick Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Warriors reject #Sixers’ high asking price, walk away from Ben Simmons deal based on Andrew Wiggins, James Wiggins, and four first-round picks,” Pompey tweeted on Thursday morning, just hours before the NBA draft began.
Is It Really Worth Squeezing Simmons Juice?
Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers reacts during a game against the Washington Wizards in 2019.
Reasonable NBA fans and experts may disagree on Simmons’ actual worth.
The Sixers forward has spent five seasons in the NBA, missing the whole first year due to injuries. In the four years since, he’s been awarded Rookie of the Year, chosen to three All-Star teams, earned All-NBA Third Team honors in 2020, and is widely considered as the league’s finest and/or most versatile defender.
His presence in Philadelphia, on the other hand, has been distasteful to the team’s famously hard-nosed supporters, who have mocked the young star for his inability to regularly make, or even attempt, jump shots, particularly from beyond the 3-point line.
Simmons vanished offensively down the stretch in crucial fourth quarters during the team’s 2021 playoff run, which concluded in a Game 7 defeat to Trae Young and the resurgent Atlanta Hawks. Due to his continued difficulties from the free-throw line, the majority of NBA experts said that the forward became unplayable in tight games, appearing scared to shoot or even be fouled.
The Sixers were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs. After a disheartening loss, neither head coach Doc Rivers nor MVP contender and team captain Joel Embiid defended Simmons when questioned about running the club as built next year, or whether Philadelphia could ever win a championship with its present lineup.
All of this hyperbole contributed to a public image of Simmons as “less than,” which may have influenced the Warriors’ decision to walk away from the table, thinking Philadelphia was just asking too much for a player whose stock is at an all-time low.
Warriors overvalue picks while undervaluing Superstar Trio’s desires
Getty Due to numerous injuries, the Golden State Warriors’ big three of Draymond Green (left), Klay Thompson (middle), and Steph Curry (right) did not play together for two complete seasons.
However, upon closer inspection, it seems that the Sixers were not asking for too much.
Both of this season’s lottery selections were anticipated to be included in any deal the Warriors made to acquire an All-Star quality player. Lottery selections are valuable commodities, but the NBA draft in 2021 is generally expected to feature four or five top-tier talents, with a substantial drop-off after that. If the Warriors had a top-4 pick along with No. 14, rather than No. 7 and No. 14, the discussion about the worth of Golden State’s two lottery selections would be much different.
Any GM or president of basketball operations worth his or her salt, which the Sixers’ Daryl Morey is, will not agree to deal a superstar level player without receiving a concrete young component in exchange. Picks are great, but they only exist in a theoretical sense. James Wiseman, a second-year big man, was exactly what Philadelphia was looking for.
Wiseman has a promising future, but he struggled throughout his first season before sustaining structural damage to his right knee’s MCL, which forced him to miss the stretch run. He has the potential to be great, but he isn’t there yet, and he won’t likely realize it soon enough for it to matter to a “win-now” Warriors club like the one Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson have said they want to pursue.
Wiggins would be in the deal purely to make the money work, since he is owed more than $30 million a season in each of the next two years, and salaries for trades of this type must line up to fulfill NBA rules.
Finally, two future first-round picks, the final component of Morey’s agreement, don’t seem to be very significant assets for the Warriors if they want to go all-in for the next several years. Thompson’s return almost ensures that Golden State will be out of the lottery and in contention for the next few seasons. The acquisition of a talent like Simmons to the Warriors’ already stacked team ensures that they will be in championship contention for many years.
Late first-round choices, which Golden State is expected to get over the next 3-5 years, are not worth arguing over, particularly as part of a genuine effort to reclaim the sort of brilliance that saw the Warriors reach the NBA Finals five consecutive years and win three titles.
Bob Myers, the President of Basketball Operations for the Golden State Warriors, may be playing hardball in the hopes of lowering Simmons’ price. If that’s the case, he’s engaging in a risky game. NBA All-Stars in their early 20s don’t exactly sprout on trees, as anybody who has played in the league knows.
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