The potential of a Zach LaVine trade to the Golden State Warriors is starting to gain traction ahead of next week’s deadline, with the 2x All-Star re-emerging as a strong target following a report from The Athletic on Wednesday.

As Brett Siegel of Clutch Points put it on Friday, “talks of LaVine heading to Golden State are very real and gaining momentum.” Part of the reason behind that is a growing suggestion that the Warriors could acquire the 29-year-old without having to give up Andrew Wiggins, potentially making for a dynamic influx of high-end talent while retaining one of the team’s most important players.

The Warriors could have an elite closing lineup with Zach LaVine

Initially, it was assumed that any deal for LaVine and his $43 million contract would have to include Wiggins to make the salaries work. Yet that’s not necessarily the case, with an alternative model where the Warriors would give up five or even six players to land LaVine.

There’s been a lot of hypothetical deals floated that include up to 10 players and three or four teams included in the trade, but for the sake of this exercise let’s just look at this below scenario suggested by Marc Delucchi of Golden State of Mind.

Warriors Get: Zach LaVine, Talen Horton-Tucker, Julian Phillips

Bulls get: Dennis Schröder, Gary Payton II, Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson, Kevon Looney, Unprotected 2025 First-Round Pick

Any deal for LaVine that doesn’t include Wiggins or another big salary would require Golden State to slash their depth in exchange for a higher-level talent. LaVine is just that and would alleviate so many of the team’s current issues, starting with being a secondary go-to scorer to support Stephen Curry, while also taking a place next to him in the starting back court.

It would also give the Warriors a definitive closing lineup that could foreseeably battle with any team in the league. A Curry-LaVine-Wiggins-Jonathan Kuminga-Draymond Green lineup may have some defensive concerns, but it could also be one of the most lethal offensive units in the league — a far cry from the recent state of Golden State that’s seen them rank a lowly 24th in offensive rating over the last two months.

It’s not as if the Warriors wouldn’t have any depth leftover either, with Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Quinten Post, Moses Moody, Gui Santos and Lindy Waters III all players that have played genuine rotation minutes or even started games this season.

There would still be question marks on the center position and the backup point guard spot after losing Schroder, but making a trade like this would undeniably give the Warriors a far greater chance of relevance over the second-half of the season, and provide the sort of lineup and rotation clarity Steve Kerr has been searching for.