Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[DallasMaverick]

You are not getting a FRP from GS to take Wiggins. Anyone that thinks so, is delusional. I mean no disrespect. In this hypothetical it’s also unlikely that Holmes & Kleber would be the trade for Wiggins. GS doesn’t want a bad player (Holmes) and bad money (Kleber). Sure, they want to rid themselves of Wiggins (rightfully so), but I think it’s highly unlikely that they would do so, while keeping themselves in the same financial position this year and next. 

As for Wiggins in general. He’s terrible. I won’t dive into all the stats because it’s not really necessary. He’s bad at basketball and will get paid 100M to play it.

The problem is that his contract is so significantly negative, for so long, that it seriously handcuffs any team that takes it on.

That's why Golden State should be so motivated to shed it.  But it's also really tricky, because, unless they put a lot of protections on it, a first round pick is likely to be really high.  So they mortgage their future by keeping Wiggins, or by trading him with a pick.

The Winners' Conundrum: The cap rules today are a bit different than they were back in 2011, but Donnie and Cuban had the same kind of dilemma that Golden State did:  Pay inflated salaries to re-up your players that brought you a championship, or let them walk and incur the ire of fans for years to come.  Donnie opted to let them walk.  Golden State opted to pay.

Which approach worked better?  I know it might be premature to make that call, since Golden State is likely to be bad for many years to come.  Seems like their only hope for the future is to build through the draft.  So maybe their best move is to swallow hard, keep their overpriced players, be bad and pay luxury tax for a few years, and hope they hit on some draft picks and can be good in the late 2020's or early 2030's.