Warriors general manager and president of basketball operations Bob Myers said Wednesday that Golden State hasn’t had any concrete discussions with other teams about trading the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Myers characterized league-wide interest in the Warriors’ selection as “fluctuating,” with intense conversations more likely to happen to closer to the draft than now.
“I think the concrete stuff comes next week,” Myers told reporters on a video conference call. ” ‘What would you do with your pick?’ ‘I don’t know, what do you want for it, or what would you give us for it?’ But we haven’t had a lot of firm, ‘We’ll give you X, Y, Z.’
“So it’s hard to really say. A team might be calling and have a completely different idea of the value of the pick than we do, and it’s up to them to make a proposal. We could certainly do that, too, but at this point in time it’s all talking around the issue, and that’s usually how it goes until it gets closer.”
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The Warriors are in an advantageous position holding such a high pick, particularly in a year lacking a clear-cut top prospect. Many front offices reportedly expect point guard LaMelo Ball to be taken No. 1 overall, but there’s no consensus as there was with Zion Williamson last year. Georgia guard Anthony Edwards and Memphis big man James Wiseman would be options for the Minnesota Timberwolves or whichever team ultimately holds the top selection.
Myers said Wednesday the Warriors are still finalizing their draft board. If Golden State ultimately doesn’t value Ball, Edwards, Wiseman or any of the players still available at No. 2 as much as another team, the Warriors could have plenty of options to draft a quality player and acquire additional assets.
The key word in that sentence is “could.” Myers said he still can’t gauge how many potential suitors the Warriors might have, or even what kind of offers they might receive.
“If teams were making firm offers now — we can’t trade picks now, but whenever allegedly this window opens up, you rarely see things happen that day,” Myers said. “The things that happen happen the night of the draft usually, but teams can start talking about stuff and have different ideas in mind, but I would say I can’t really answer the level of interest or not until it gets more serious.”
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The NBA’s trade moratorium reportedly will be lifted a couple days prior to the Nov. 18 draft, and Myers revealed the Warriors have talked to “most teams in the league about one thing or another.” If any trades are going to be completed on draft night, Myers said he expects discussions would have to begin in earnest by next Monday at the latest.
Based on his prior experience, Myers believes conversations could start ramping up over the weekend. Yet, even Myers’ near-decade in the Warriors’ front office can only prepare him so much for the discussions to come.
“We’ll see as things go, Myers said. “Every situation is unique. I don’t know if people are calling everybody else or we’ll get the most calls in the next four, five days. It’s hard to predict.”
