Dubs’ offseason plan relies on draft lottery, Myers says originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors will have a lot more certainty about their offseason on June 22.
That’s when the NBA holds the draft lottery, and when Golden State learns if it will receive the Minnesota Timberwolves’ top-three protected first-round pick. The pick, as it stands right now, has about a 60 percent chance of conveying to the Warriors.
Those aren’t great odds on which to bet the long-term success of the franchise, with Golden State at significant risk of not getting the selection until 2022. You don’t need to tell Warriors president of operations and general manager Bob Myers the odds, though, as he’s well aware he can’t formulate a plan for the offseason without knowing which team gets the pick.
“If we do get a couple picks and the Minnesota pick does convey, that could be an attractive thing in a trade,” Myers told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami in an interview for Tuesday’s episode of “The TK Show.” “Or that could be an attractive thing to look at because it’s rare that you have … picks kind of in that high of range, to have multiple picks. We’ll see, and when that time comes, we’ll look at drafting, we’ll look at trading, we’ll look at everything that kind of is on the table.”
As a condition of November’s trade for Kelly Oubre Jr., the Warriors’ 2021 first-round pick would convey to the Oklahoma City Thunder if Golden State finishes the season with a top-10 record. That doesn’t appear likely, with the Warriors holding the NBA’s 16th-best record (23-24) entering Thursday, so there’s a distinct chance Golden State has two picks in the top 20 during the July 29 draft.
With that much ammunition, Myers can fundamentally reshape his roster. He’ll have a balance to strike, as he did when selecting James Wiseman last November, of whether or not to prioritize the present or future.
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Myers told Kawakami he wouldn’t necessarily be worried about selecting a player in the top five who’s unable to meaningfully contribute to a playoff team, which the Warriors aspire to be when Klay Thompson returns from his torn Achilles next season.
“I can’t say their names, but if I was talking about some of the top guys, some are ready to go more than others,” Myers explained. “And you may look to prefer that guy over a different guy who’s got a longer kind of timeframe. It’ll be interesting to see.”
The Warriors might not need to worry about it at all, depending upon the lottery. Until Golden State learns its fate, Myers can only do so much to prepare for a pivotal summer.
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