The NBA trade deadline is almost here and it is clear the Warriors need to switch things up, but Steph Curry is the one who will reportedly decide the Warriors’ fate.
The team is in 12th place in the West with a 19-24 record and NBA insider Shams Charania provided the latest intel on who he thinks is on the trading block for the Dubs.
“They’ve lost six of eight games. We’ve talked about it everyone is on the table except for Steph Curry,” Charania said on FanDuel TV. “And so when you think about it, realistically, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski — the two guys that they’re high on — they want to keep long term. They view them as part of their core moving forward. They’re going to take calls on Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul.
“Could they get interest even from a guy like Klay Thompson? I think those are very much open conversations for the Warriors. They have to be open-minded. This is a team that’s five games under 500 in that 12th spot, outside of the play-in and they’ve got a high high tax bill as well. So this is a team that’s really clearly [on the verge of a major shakeup], we’ll see if there’s going to be any moves over the next 10 days.”
However, ESPN‘s Ramona Shelburne believes that any trades will have to go through their veteran superstar Curry first.
“They’re not going to make any moves to that core and break up that dynastic team unless [Curry’s] on board with that idea,” Shelburne said on January 29th’s episode of NBA Today.
It is clear that Steph is becoming increasingly frustrated with his team’s performances.
He could be seen ripping his jersey as he walked away from the Warriors 145-144 double OT loss to the Lakers – a game where he scored a season-high of 46 points.
“We’re playing with a little bit of desperation, trying to change the tide of our season and we just don’t have anything to show for it right now,” Curry said after the loss.
Despite all the trade chatter, The Athletic‘s Anthony Slater thinks that Warriors fans shouldn’t get their hopes up for a trade that will turn the tides.
They’re in NBA no-man’s-land. The odds and internal expectations of a trade that meaningfully moves the needle has steadily decreased over the last month, team sources not authorized to speak publicly tell The Athletic,” Slater wrote.
READ MORE: Steph Curry Reacts to Players’ Recent Flurry of High Scoring Games