The Golden State Warriors have a tough way of navigating with the NBA deadline fast approaching Thursday. They want to maximize talent next season around Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and a hopefully healthy Klay Thompson, but they also do not want to jeopardize the future by giving away their best young players and assets.
Victor Oladipo enters, who reportedly turned down a recent Houston Rockets expansion offer and is expected to become a free agent in the off-season. Oladipo can be a nice intermediate option for the Warriors, as we wrote Brad Botkin – someone who can help with their stars in the short term, but also does not need a massive amount of assets to bring on board.
Well, apparently the last part was the delay in the negotiations between the Rockets and Warriors. According to Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston is asking rookie center James Wiseman whether the top three protected 2021 Minnesota Timberwolves pick (who will be unprotected in 2022) in exchange for Oladipo. The strong price nullified the potential discussions between the two teams. From Letourneau:
According to a league source, Golden State’s talks with Houston have not yet progressed beyond the investigation phase. The Rockets want one of the Warriors’ best assets, the top three protected 2021 pick from Minnesota or Wiseman, both of which are a conversation for Golden State.
With Wiseman and the Minnesota pick, the Warriors had one of the best trade packages in the league as a superstar available, so it makes sense that they would not want to use Oladipo either, a former All-Star who was contradictory. at most since he returned in January 2020 from a serious injury.
Because the rebuilt Rockets presumably have no interest in adopting Andrew Wiggins’ solid salary, a more likely package will be centered around Warriors wing Kelly Oubre Jr., who will also become a free agent in the off-season. If that were the case, the Rockets would probably have picked a first round (not Minnesota), with which Golden State might not have been willing to compete.
That may change between the current and Thursday’s deadline, but for now it looks like the Rockets and Warriors are not on the same page when it comes to a possible Oladipo deal.