One of the many punitive penalties facing second-apron teams in the years ahead is an inability to use cash to help complete a trade. But that new CBA limitation won’t trigger until this upcoming business year. So the Golden State Warriors, deep in the red, still had that tool available this past February.
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Minutes before the trade deadline, they used it, attaching the maximum-allowable $5.8 million to Cory Joseph’s contract, sending him to the Indiana Pacers for a 2024 second-rounder. Considering the luxury-tax break, the transaction saved the Warriors around $3.7 million and, because the Pacers were delivered a free chunk of money, they sent back what became the 52nd pick.
That is the only reason the Warriors have a selection in the 2024 NBA Draft. Their first-rounder is in Portland, lost in the Andre Iguodala salary dump to Memphis in 2019. Their second-rounder is in Houston, sent out in 2019 to buy the No. 41 pick, which became Eric Paschall.
It’s difficult to find a difference-maker in the 50s, but the Warriors have the league’s most recent success story. Through some backroom maneuvering, they were able to get Trayce Jackson-Davis 57th overall last June. Jackson-Davis burst into the rotation midseason and was Golden State’s starting center by March. He profiles as a 25-minute frontcourt rotation player on a controllable, cheap salary the next three seasons.
The Warriors are on the search to recreate that kind of bargain magic and have been shuffling a ton of prospects into their facility in recent weeks, most of them veteran college players like Jackson-Davis.
Let’s turn to Sam Vecenie, The Athletic’s draft expert, to figure out who might be available around No. 52 and who could theoretically help the Warriors soon in their career. In his most recent mock draft (which you can read in full here), Vecenie has the Warriors selecting 23-year-old Jalen Bridges, a 6-foot-7 wing out of Baylor.
Slater: I’ll begin with two questions: How do you see the Bridges fit and is there anyone a big higher in your mock — most presumed Jackson-Davis would go higher last year — you could see falling into their lap?
Vecenie: Bridges is the kind of rangy 6-foot-7 wing with long arms that fits this scheme as a 3-and-D player. He’s turned himself into a solid shooter, having made 37 percent of his career 3s and 41.2 percent of his 3s this season. Defensively, he does a solid job on the ball, but where I really love him is with team defense. He’s excellent at playing one-on-two on the back side with his length, and can occasionally cover some ground around the weak side of the rim. He’d make some sense for them, for sure.
MVP moves 👀#SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/pL6f3bmeBz
— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) November 25, 2023
I think what you get at in your second question is the right way to approach this. The Warriors seem like a team that will take whatever comes to them. Also, they’re not afraid to offer guaranteed money in order to try to get players to slide down to their pick. They did that last year to get Jackson-Davis. Connecticut guard Cam Spencer, San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo and Houston guard Jamal Shead are players who I can see the team appreciating if they were to fall that far down the order. The Warriors have valued high-skill, high-IQ players in the brief tenure of Mike Dunleavy Jr., and all three of those guys possess those qualities in some respect.
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Slater: The Warriors have spent the last month bringing in groups of six prospects (including Bridges) for in-person workouts at their San Francisco facility, followed by film sessions and get-to-know-you interviews.
Here are some of the various names that have come through
- Chibuzo Agbo, Boise State
- Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
- Adama Bal, Santa Clara
- Dillon Jones, Weber State
- Jared McCain, Duke
- Gabe McGlothan, Grand Canyon
- Lamont Butler (San Diego State)
- Isaac Jones (Washington State)
- Antonio Reeves (Kentucky)
- Payton Sandfort (Iowa)
- Jaylin Williams (Auburn)
- Jermaine Couisnard (Oregon)
- Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech)
- Tre Mitchell (Kentucky)
- Branden Carlson (Ole Miss)
- DJ Horne (NC State)
- Darin Green Jr. (Boston College)
- Keshod Johnson (Arizona)
- Moses Wood (Washington)
- PJ Hall (Clemson)
- Jaedon LeDee (San Diego State)
- Jamison Battle (Ohio State)
Brandin Podziemski basically convinced the Warriors to draft him with his impressive workout and film session during the last cycle. These workouts matter. I’ve heard that Green shot it well, Hall impressed and Cousinard has been on their radar. But there are so many names. Do any of these stick out to you in particular, especially as a specific fit for the Warriors?
Vecenie: The names that stand out are Dillon Jones, Isaac Jones, Reeves, Johnson and Hall. Those are the guys that I have a top-60 grade on in the class and thus would likely be worth a pick in that range.
Reeves stands out from a shooting perspective. If the Warriors decide to hang on to Gary Payton II this summer, pairing him with a shooter in the backcourt would be valuable. A 6-foot-5 wing from Kentucky, Reeves is skinny and isn’t a particularly good defender, but he averaged 20 per game in the SEC this year and is a legitimate 40 percent 3-point shooter. He drilled 44.7 percent from 3 on six attempts per game this year, and counters that shooting with a nice driving and floater game that complements it well. I also think he moves well without the ball, something that would appeal to Steve Kerr.
Johnson is the kind of player the Warriors have loved in recent years: He excels without the ball in his hands. A transfer to Arizona from San Diego State this year, Johnson’s numbers don’t jump off the page, but he’s a good defender across the positional spectrum and a strong wing rebounder. He’s on the short list of “best overall athletes” in the class, a powerful, explosive wing who is still working on his skill development. I’d venture the Warriors would want someone who can move the ball better and who is a more consistent shooter, but if they trust their developmental staff to help him continue to iron out his jumper (he’s a low-volume 39 percent 3-point shooter who hadn’t shown much in that respect prior to this season), you can make a case for him at No. 52.
Isaac Jones has one of the best stories in the draft. He’s a late-bloomer who was 6-foot-4 when he graduated high school and started working on a loading dock before experiencing a growth spurt up to 6-foot-8 and returning to basketball at the junior college level before eventually transferring to Washington State. He has superb length with a 7-foot-3 wingspan and has enough size to play the center position. If the Warriors want to bet on a positive developmental trajectory and think Jones has more latent upside than the typical 23-year-old, he’d be the bet. He moves well on defense and has a reasonable handle for a big. However, he’s still not really a shooter and his defensive instincts are still developing.
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Dillon Jones is one of the statistical darlings of the class, a productive player who averaged nearly 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists per game in the Big Sky for Weber State. He’s undersized as a wing at 6-foot-5, but makes up for it with his 6-foot-11 wingspan. Defensively, I have some questions about his lateral ability at 235 pounds and he doesn’t have the vertical athleticism you’d hope for in a prospect who also has shooting questions. But if you want to bet on production, he’s your guy.
My favorite pickup of this group would be Hall if he gets there. Another undersized big, Hall has enough size to manage at the five with a 9-foot standing reach. I wonder if he could combine with Jackson-Davis off the bench for some fun two-big lineups. Hall can shoot the ball from distance, is really sharp on defense and can pass. He’s just not mobile athletically. I have a top-45 grade on him and think his basketball IQ would also really fit with Kerr.
Slater: One fringe second-round name who hasn’t been in the facility for a workout: Bronny James. Even if the Warriors bring him to San Francisco, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s kept quiet, considering all the other noise it would drum up.
You currently have James going 55th overall to the Los Angeles Lakers. He isn’t the type of older prospect who could help immediately. But I have to ask: What do you think of him as a possible match for the Warriors?
Vecenie: I think it would be good for Bronny to be in a developmental ecosystem such as the Warriors’, as his game works reasonably well within the scheme. He’s not a point guard because he can’t break defenders down off the bounce at that level, but he’s a good ball-mover across the perimeter and an excellent perimeter defender. Having him learn behind Payton (assuming he’s back) is an ideal situation. Another son of an elite player that had to earn his place in the NBA the hard way, Payton could probably impart some knowledge to James about how make it in the league. On top of that, LeBron’s relationship with Draymond Green would probably make life easier for Bronny.
Having said that, I would be pretty stunned by this. I don’t have a draftable grade on Bronny at this point of the process and have him outside of my top-70. It’s hard to sell me on a 6-foot-1 guard who averaged under five points per game in college, even if he brings other attributes to the table. If the team hasn’t had him into their building on top of that? Hard to sell me that he makes sense as a fit here.
(Top photo of Bronny James: David Becker / Getty Images)