Golden State Warriors Trade Chips: Key Players and Picks

The rest of the league already has its shopping list ready for the Golden State Warriors. It’s not a long one.

Stephen Curry’s name never comes up. It doesn’t need to. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported this week, there is no “negotiation” on his next deal, just a franchise willing to wait for a 38-year-old Curry to decide how long and how much. The dynasty’s cornerstone is off the board before talks even start.

Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody are off it too, but for very different reasons. General manager Mike Dunleavy made it clear in August that neither will be available for the Oct. 21 opener, and there’s no timetable for either rehab. No health, no leverage. That leaves Golden State with three real trade chips as another season around Curry begins under a cloud of uncertainty.

No. 3: Kristaps Porzingis and the Contract That Travels

Kristaps Porzingis arrived in February from Atlanta in the Jonathan Kuminga deal, a midseason swing that felt more like a cap maneuver than a franchise reset. Four months later, in June, the Warriors doubled down with a two-year, $40 million extension that includes a player option on the second season.

John Hollinger of The Athletic noted that the structure matters. Because it’s written as an extension, Porzingis is eligible to be moved immediately. No waiting period. No frozen asset.

On the floor, the numbers were modest and fragmented: 16.7 points and 5.2 rebounds over 32 games, only 15 of those in a Warriors uniform. The production doesn’t scream centerpiece. The contract does.

That $19.5 million salary slot is the sweet spot. Big enough to bring back a real player. Clean enough to slide into a variety of deals. For a front office that chose continuity all summer, it’s the one mid-tier number that can unlock a star if one shakes loose.

Porzingis sits third on the list for a reason. A 31-year-old who has suited up just 15 times for his new team cannot carry a blockbuster by himself. He’s the matching money, the useful piece, the guy who makes a bigger idea possible.

No. 2: The Warriors’ Own First-Round Picks

If anyone needed a reminder of how much first-round picks matter, the league just provided it. The punishment that stripped the Clippers of five future firsts in the Kawhi Leonard case underlined, in brutal fashion, how valuable those lottery tickets are.

A May breakdown showed Golden State still holding its own first-rounders in 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2032. The 2030 pick is earmarked for Dallas, but only if it falls outside the top 20. For a team built around Curry and a 36-year-old Draymond Green, that level of future control is rare.

Rivals see those years and their eyes widen. Nobody knows what the Warriors look like in 2029. Is Curry retired? Is the core dismantled? Is this a rebuilding group stumbling through the bottom of the West? That uncertainty is exactly what inflates the price.

Golden State already showed its appetite for youth by keeping the No. 11 pick in June and drafting Yaxel Lendeborg instead of flipping it for immediate help. But the day this roster needs a serious upgrade, those future firsts become the front office’s loudest voice on the trade market. When Dunleavy wants the phone answered, he knows what to put on the table.

No. 1: Brandin Podziemski, the One They Don’t Want to Lose

Brandin Podziemski is the first name other teams ask for. He’s also the one name the Warriors least want to hear in any proposal.

The profile is exactly what every front office covets. He’s 23. He played all 82 games last season. He averaged 13.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists, and he did it on a $5.7 million salary in the final year of his rookie deal. Production, durability, upside, and cost control all in one package.

Dunleavy didn’t hide how the organization feels. In August, he said he’d prefer to hammer out an extension rather than let Podziemski drift into restricted free agency next summer. His reasoning was blunt and simple: “When he’s on the court, we’re a better team.”

Nothing is done yet. The extension window closes on Oct. 19. Until pen meets paper, Podziemski sits in that dangerous zone where his value is high, his price is low, and his future is undecided.

For any team trying to pry him loose, the appeal is obvious. Trade for him now and you get a cheap young guard plus his restricted free agent rights. If he pops this season, the cost of keeping him climbs, but so does the value of having him in-house when that decision hits.

The Decision Dunleavy Can’t Dodge

Golden State finished 37-45 last season, 10th in the West, and now opens this campaign with Butler and Moody sidelined. This isn’t the invincible juggernaut of old. It’s a proud, aging group trying to thread a needle between honoring a legend and protecting a future that no longer feels guaranteed.

By February, Dunleavy has to choose a direction.

Use Podziemski and those distant firsts to chase one more star and squeeze every last ounce out of the Curry era? Or treat them as the foundation of whatever comes next, even if that means watching No. 30 play out his final years with a supporting cast built more for tomorrow than tonight?

The internal logic is clear enough. Keep Podziemski and the picks unless the return is a true star with years left on his deal. Let Porzingis go if the right offer materializes and his contract can be the bridge to something bigger.

The rest of the league already knows what to ask for. The real question is whether the Warriors are ready to answer it.