The Golden State Warriors are stuck on the outer skirts of championship contention right now for a few reasons, but the primary one probably stems from their inability to take full advantage of three lottery picks over the 2020 and 2021 NBA drafts.
Former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman always grabs the headlines when it comes to this disaster, yet the Warriors also missed an opportunity the following year after taking Jonathan Kuminga with the seventh overall pick and Moses Moody at 14.
Now the Warriors have seemingly turned their attention to undoing those mistakes, with the franchise reportedly interested in a trade for a player taken after both Kuminga and Moody in the same draft — Trey Murphy III.
The Warriors are trying to fix their 2021 draft mistake
NBA insider Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported on Friday that Golden State have a “strong affinity” for Murphy, noting their interest in the 6’8″ wing dating back over four years to the 2021 draft.
“I’ve since learned that Murphy was another player strongly considered by the Warriors while they were on the clock at No. 14 when they selected Moody,” Fischer wrote.
Moody has been solid as a three-and-D wing for the Warriors, earning himself a three-year, $37.5 million extension last offseason before carving out a bigger role in his fourth year which included starting 31-straight games in the second-half of the season.
Still, it’s not difficult to imagine where Golden State might be right now if they’d drafted Murphy with the 14th pick instead, or even Alperun Sengun for that matter who was taken two spots later at No. 16.
The issue now is that the Warriors will likely have to give up both Kuminga and Moody, along with multiple first-round picks in order to acquire Murphy who is a 25-year-old rising star with practically a perfect skillset for a Steve Kerr system.
Perhaps they could get Murphy and keep Moody if they’re first capable of signing Kuminga to a $20-25 million per year deal and then make the trade once eligible mid-season, but base-year compensation rules makes that impossible to pull off right now.
Fischer reports that the Pelicans have “batted away calls” for Murphy so far, suggesting the Warriors will have to pay a steep price to even have a chance of trading for someone they had not one but two shots at four years ago.
