As the Golden State Warriors headed into the 2025 NBA Draft, it was clear that their intention was to grab a player that could possibly make some sort of rotational impact this season, especially given their need to fill out a cheap roster spot.

Instead, the organization made a laughable draft-day trade, trading down in the second round, and in doing so they may have missed out on the steal of the draft: league-ready power forward Johni Broome.

Broome has looked excellent and effective against summer league competition, something Golden State can not claim for their own draft picks and could use desperately heading into next season.

The Warriors could have missed out majorly on Johni Broome

The Warriors, heading into the NBA Draft, conducted pre-draft workouts with a number of older college guards and centers, being linked to players such as Sion James, Koby Brea and even Rocco Zikarsky.

Yet, as the second day of the draft began, news broke that Golden State was trading down, swapping their 41st overall pick for the 52nd and 59th overall picks. They eventually selected Australian forward Alex Toohey and traded up to the 56th overall pick to grab 3-and-D wing Will Richard out of Florida.

Yet, both players have largely been underwhelming in Summer League thus far. Toohey, after posting an absurd -81 plus-minus in his first two games, has rebounded a bit to average 8.7 points, four rebounds and 1.3 assists across three games in Las Vegas.

However, Toohey has largely looked outmatched on defense and ineffective on offense, displaying flashes of athleticism but also revealing a glaring rawness in his game.

Richard, meanwhile, has looked slightly more effective on the defensive end, putting together some eye-catching steals and defensive rotations, but he has been ineffective from 3-point range and does not look to have a dynamic offensive game.

Broome, however, has excelled thus far in Las Vegas with the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 13.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists through four games. As a Senior at Auburn, Broome averaged 18.6 points en route to winning SEC Player of the Year and was in serious contention for the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award.

Yet, due to age concerns, Broome was still projected to slip to the early second round, and, were the Warriors actually looking to grab a player who could make an immediate impact, they could have easily traded up in order to grab Broome.

Especially given the possibility that they trade Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State could have certainly used a player of Broome’s rebounding and defensive skill-set, and, in trading down, they missed an excellent draft night opportunity.