.jpg)
1 hour ago
3
While the 2025-26 NBA campaign is still ongoing, the Golden State Warriors are already preparing for the upcoming offseason.
With the Warriors losing to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, the franchise’s playoff/championship hopes are officially over, forcing them to look ahead to the summer. It’s reasonable to assume the Dubs will have Stephen Curry’s immediate future in mind when mulling potential moves.
The four-time NBA champion believes there’s still plenty of elite basketball ahead of him, which should prompt Golden State to identify the most valuable win-now assets on the free agent/trade market and lure them to the Bay. CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn believes that the Dubs could hit the jackpot by swapping Jimmy Butler for a 10-time All-Star this offseason.
“The easiest way to maximize the end of Curry's career would be to pair him with someone better than him,” Quinn wrote Saturday. Get another true superstar, and you can dial back his workload enough to hopefully keep him fresh through 82 games.”
“We know who Golden State wants this co-star to be: Giannis Antetokounmpo. They offered four first-round picks at the deadline and were rebuffed.”
“Imagine a best-case scenario in which a trade could be made using the expiring contract of Butler, all of the picks and all of their notable youth (Moody, Brandin Podziemski, Will Richard).”
Antetokounmpo has been a primary trade target for the Warriors for months. With the Bucks failing to compete at a high level to start the season, many believed that Milwaukee would finally agree to let Antetokounmpo loose via a blockbuster trade to the storied Western Conference organization that needed him most.
Of course, Antetokounmpo’s tenure with the Bucks didn’t end before the Feb. 5 trade deadline. However, the Warriors should still be atop the two-time MVP’s trade wishlist this summer, considering that a duo consisting of Antetokounmpo and Curry would be near-impossible to contain nightly.
Curry, despite proving to be injury-prone, is still a generational long-range shooter on the move who has mastered the art of getting defenders to leave their feet and take themselves out of plays.
Antetokounmpo is a highlight waiting to happen in transition, as the 31-year-old NBA champion forward uses effortless, gazelle-like strides to maneuver around defenders and gain the upper hand of the rim.
Needless to say, pairing Antetokounmpo with Curry, even if it requires them to part ways with Butler after 1.5 seasons (he tore his ACL in January), should be a priority for the Warriors moving forward.
More NBA news:
English (US)