Despite a 7-1 start to the 2024-25 season, the Golden State Warriors recently experienced quite a dip in production. The Warriors lost three consecutive games, leading to mock trades of all sorts. However, there is a legitimate case for avoiding a certain kind of swap: the irrelevant lateral trade. Inside the Warriors analyzed one such theoretical trade.
Bleacher Report recently prompted a mock trade involving the Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, the one team with the feat as the lone unit to beat the Stephen Curry-led squad twice in the 2024-25 season.
The trade proposed the Warriors trade Jonathan Kuminga and out-for-the-season De’Anthony Melton for Clippers second-leading scorer Norman Powell.
Although the trade makes sense for the Clippers, at least in the long term, given that the Los Angeles franchise will shed $39 million over the next two seasons, such a swap does little for the Warriors’ immediate and distant future.
Firstly, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. refused to include Kuminga in trade packages for Utah Jazz’s All-Star Lauri Markkanen. For Dunleavy to turn a 180 on such a philosophy for Powell would cause quite the questioning for the relative newcomer to the Warriors’ front office.
Furthermore, Powell seems like a decent second-scoring option for Stephen Curry, but is he a legitimate running mate if the Warriors wish to solidify themselves as an elite Western Conference team?
Yet, Melton’s ball-handling is missed for the Warriors, leading to recent struggles, as no one else aside from Curry and Draymond Green can create for others. On the other side of the trade table, Powell’s presence as a security blanket for James Harden leads to a surprising 12-8 record for the Clippers.
Still, the lateral trade goes against what the Warriors have communicated since the summer. Powell is decent but not a needle-moving player, which the Warriors need to legitimately challenge the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best team in the Western Conference.
