The Golden State Warriors are exploring trade options for veteran center Kristaps Porzingis, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
The injury-prone big man has unfortunately become a negative asset in Golden State due to his inability to stay on the court. He remains out indefinitely dealing with a private health matter, which Charania adds is seriously threatening to end his basketball career entirely.
Blazers could get future assets by trading for sidelined Kristaps Porzingis
Golden State signed Porzingis to a two-year, $40 million extension this offseason. But as ESPN's Anthony Slater points out, the Warriors front office mitigated Porzingis' significant injury risk. They only guaranteed $3 million of his $20 million deal in the second season, which makes this much closer to an expiring contract than an actual two-year deal.
The Porzingis contract structure is similar to what the Portland Trail Blazers decided to do with Robert Williams III this offseason. He signed a three-year, $44 million deal, but only the first year is fully guaranteed. That gives them similar financial insurance as Golden State has with Porzingis, only Portland's frontcourt is much better equipped to deal with any potential Williams absence.
The Warriors have consistently had a thin frontcourt, as their band-aid solutions for players like Porzingis and Al Horford have predictably not been the answer. Warriors fans, and honestly even Stephen Curry himself at times, seem frustrated with this front office's inability to surround Curry with the talent required to contend for his closing window.
The one silver lining to that is they've maintained that trade flexibility, as they have several first-round picks to attach to expiring contracts. The Blazers are an intriguing trade suitor in that scenario. They have tremendous flexibility themselves with a roster that's on two timelines and full of future picks.
Warriors should target Jrue Holiday as potential match
Jrue Holiday is someone that the Warriors would likely love to have. He's every coach's dream, but he seems like such a Steve Kerr player given his basketball IQ, defense, and Kerr's strange obsession with playing guards. We've even already seen this given Holiday's history with Kerr on Team USA.
The Warriors would have to attach additional outgoing salary to match Holiday's $34.8 million this season, but could be intrigued by the potential veteran unit of Curry, Holiday, Butler, and Green riding off into the sunset together.
After all, Damian Lillard is the closest thing this league has to Curry. It could be too tempting to pass up after seeing how well the versatile Holiday fits alongside Lillard in the backcourt.
Not to say this is a likely scenario, but one that Portland should have on its radar depending on how this backcourt shakes out to start the season. If they fall behind in the standings and decide to take one step back by trading someone like Holiday to acquire even more future assets, Porzingis and the Warriors could be a potential match before February's deadline.
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