The Golden State Warriors will have to solve a problem at center this summer, with the franchise wanting to avoid pushing Draymond Green further into the role after he carried a heavy burden across the second-half of the season.
With the Warriors not appearing to hold full faith in youngsters Trayce Jackson-Davis and Quinten Post, the search for a new starting center is likely to come externally via free agency or the trade market.
Golden State aren’t a team that have historically spent big on the center position, meaning they may have to look at under-utilized big men who have been stuck within a logjam at their current team. If that’s the case, there’s one team who could serve as the ideal trade partner this offseason.
The Orlando Magic have a surplus of talented big men
The Orlando Magic currently have three high-level rotation centers on their roster, plus a fourth if you want to include Jonathan Isaac as a small-ball option. One of those, Moritz Wagner, missed the second-half of the season due to a torn ACL, but the 28-year-old is expected to return early next season after averaging a career-high 12.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in his 30 games before injury.
Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze are also prominent big men on the Magic roster. The former made 51 starts in his 68 games this season, while the latter started in 42 of his 70 games. The pair started a number of games together while Paolo Banchero was out through injury, but otherwise that’s a rare occurrence that leaves one (usually Bitadze) coming off the bench.
Bitadze has already been mentioned as a potential target for Golden State utilizing their Kyle Anderson trade exception, but Carter may be the more prudent option given his perimeter shooting capabilities.
The 26-year-old was mentioned as a possible target by The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II on the latest Warriors Plus-Minus podcast, to which colleague Anthony Slater responded, “yeah, that’s a good name. That’s somebody they’ve kicked the tyres on in the past,”
The past may refer to nearly five years ago prior to the 2020 NBA Draft, with reports that the Warriors were considering trading the No. 2 pick to the Chicago Bulls for Carter and the No. 4 pick. Golden State fatally took James Wiseman second overall instead, while Carter was traded to the Magic the following March.
Carter’s scoring and overall offense has fallen over the past two years, though that may have more to do with the ascension of Banchero and Franz Wagner. Still, the drop from 37.4% 3-point shooting to 23.4% isn’t ideal, but may actually make him gettable if the Warriors put forward a strong offer and believe those shooting numbers this season are just a blip on the radar.
Carter will be making $18.1 million next season on the first of a three-year, $58.7 million contract. Perhaps that makes Bitadze the more realistic target, but either way the Magic look like they have an excess of big men that the Warriors could benefit from.
