The Warriors are entering the off-season with a number of flexible assets, including their two lottery picks in this year’s draft, James Wiseman, Kelly Oubre Jr. in a possible sign-and-trade, and their future first round picks. They could obviously hold onto those assets and hope that what they currently have is enough. However, rumors have been swirling about possible trade targets if the Warriors decide to take some of those assets and try to add another star. Enter Zach LaVine.

If the Warriors were to include Wiseman in one of the trades, it is likely that they would target a big man who can be plugged into the starting lineup right away. However, the Warriors may be reluctant to include their #2 overall pick from last year’s draft.

If they decided to hold onto Wiseman, they would likely target a wing or guard to fit alongside Steph, Klay, and Wiggins with Draymond and Wiseman manning the front court. However, it could get more expensive if Wiseman, who is probably their most valuable asset, were to not be included.

One recently proposed rumor would have the Warriors acquiring Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine in exchange for Kelly Oubre Jr. in a sign-and-trade along with both the Warriors lottery picks this year, their unprotected 2022 first rounder, a 2023 first round pick swap (with a top-1 protection), and their 2026 first round pick (top-10 protected).

That would obviously be most of their remaining flexible assets, leaving them with what would be a pretty much finalized roster outside of any small free agent signings to fill up the roster. However, LaVine is an all-star caliber player who could be worth the price. He would give the Warriors a third 20 points/game scorer, which would help the Warriors manage the load on Steph and Klay throughout the season. He has improved his points/game total in each of the past three seasons after his breakout 2018-19 season, scoring a career high 27.4 points/game last season.

Additionally, given that LaVine is only 26, he could definitely handle being tasked with heavy minutes, and this is backed up by multiple seasons of 35+ minutes/game. The Warriors would obviously be mortgaging a significant part of their future to make the trade, but it could be worth it in order to maximize the final prime years of Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

One interesting dynamic that could be formed if the Warriors do make the trade is that they would once again have six starter-caliber players in their rotation. Wiseman is obviously the one you could most argue for a bench spot, but he is the future at the center position for the Warriors and they will likely be wanting him to play at least 25+ minutes/game. With Steph, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond, and now LaVine, there would be a question both as to who starts games and who closes them.

However, as we saw for a while with Kelly Oubre Jr. this past season, that doesn’t always have to be a bad problem to have.