As the Golden State Warriors trudge further into the offseason, all paths seem to be leading to the organization signing veteran Al Horford to pair with youngster Quinten Post at the five spot.

While doing so would give them a surer presence in the paint, giving Post room to take the necessary strides in his game on both ends of the floor, it would also allow them to atone for a past mistake: the drafting of James Wiseman, which placed the end of Stephen Curry’s career in jeopardy.

With the team presumably seeking to sign Horford, they will not leave all of their hopes on a young, unproven center, giving Curry one more chance to win a championship before the end of his career.

An Al Horford signing could be the Warriors’ best chance to maximize their championship potential

In a recent ESPN article that explores all 30 teams’ greatest roster mistakes of the past five years, NBA analyst Zach Kram, somewhat naturally, claims that Golden State’s biggest mistake was drafting Wiseman second overall in 2020.

As a result of various factors, including injuries and a lack of defensive development, Wiseman was decidedly a missed pick by the Warriors, jeopardizing the team’s timeline as it attempted to re-tool around Curry.

After bouncing between the main roster and the G-League, Wiseman was ultimately traded in 2023, ending a failed experiment that has cost Golden State dearly.

Although the Warriors were able to win a championship in 2022 without Wiseman, Kram argues that the impact of the pick still reverberates on the team’s roster, writing that “six years later, the Warriors are stuck trying to eke out more wins while Curry is still near his peak, because there is no more succession plan in Golden State.”

While Golden State has found team success despite their missed opportunity, there is still ample room for regret regarding the 2020 Draft. In picking Wiseman, the Warriors missed out on both Lamelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton, leaving the team now fully dependent on their veteran core of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to push them towards one more championship.

The Jimmy Butler acquisition was a direct result of this urgency, leaving them with a defined two-year title window. Because of the Wiseman pick, there is no clear path to contention following Curry’s retirement.

Therefore, signing Horford could allow the team to avoid the same mistakes they made with Wiseman by allowing Post runway to develop his game while simultaneously improving the team’s chances of snatching one more title before they enter the void of the post-Curry era.

Yet, despite this fact, Kram’s claim serves as a painful reminder of what could have been, and now the Warriors must do their best to scrap together a veteran-laden roster that can compete in the loaded Western Conference.