Warriors predicted to ditch Stephen Curry for Lakers' promising $72 million wing duo

The Golden State Warriors are going in the wrong direction in late January.

The organization may waive the white flag by trading a two-time MVP to the Los Angeles Lakers soon.

 “Everyone wants to see an NBA team-up of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the two biggest stars of the past two decades, especially after they led the United States to Olympic gold in Paris last summer,” Blue Man Hoop’s Josh Cornelissen wrote Thursday. 

“The Warriors inquired about trading for James at last year's trade deadline; could the two players team up in Los Angeles instead?”

“Any trade for Curry would need to happen with LeBron James and Anthony Davis staying with the Lakers; otherwise, why make the deal at all?”

“Yet the problem that then occurs is that the Lakers would need to send out a colossal number of players to match the salary of Stephen Curry, at which point the Warriors themselves would need to cut multiple key players just to absorb the number of players coming to them.”

“What's more, the Lakers are nearly bereft of assets outside of the first-round picks they would need to send to the Warriors, making it extremely difficult to find other teams to take on contracts to lessen the burden on the deal.”

“In the end, this is what a trade would need to look like between just the Lakers and Warriors (Curry, Gui Santos, and Gary Payton II to the Lakers for Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Jarred Vanderbilt, and draft capital.)

“That's a 7-for-3 swap, the kind of 'well it technically works' machination that absolutely never happens in the NBA, and certainly not in the midst of the season when teams cannot exceed 15 rostered players.”

“Is the value even good enough for the Warriors here?” 

“The future first-round picks take on more value as the Lakers mortgage young talent to win in the short-term, but the cornucopia of long-term money here doesn't make sense for Golden State.”

Curry is a generational shooter who’s thrived as the Warriors’ No. 1 scoring option, but the team around him isn’t cutting it. 

While the future Hall of Famer averages 22.6 points per contest and continues to shake defenders out of their shoes on the perimeter, the Warriors are in legitimate danger of missing the postseason. 

Trading an amazing talent like Curry to the Lakers would be challenging, but receiving Knecht and Reaves, two promising wings, would help soften the blow and jumpstart their rebuild. 

That said, it’s highly unlikely Los Angeles will fork over two contributors predicted to shape their future, making Cornelissen’s trade idea a long shot.

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