The injuries to All-Stars Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have forced the Golden State Warriors to reconsider their draft strategy.
Two-time Finals MVP Durant is the sharpest — and most consistent — of shooters, with his teammates considering him the best player on the team. Thompson, meanwhile, can set the basket ablaze from the three-point line when the spirit strikes. Plus, his suffocating defense has come up big in keeping Golden State in tough games.
With Durant ruled out for the 2019-20 season and Thompson likely to miss most, if not all of it, the Warriors no longer need a player to develop for the future. They need one who can step up big — now. So, in addition to going after a sharpshooter to fill that void, the Warriors are looking for poised and skilled players capable of doing what many rookies would never dream of on a championship-winning team: contribute now, with the expectation to come up big in the playoffs.
Myers said the team has people within the organization who’ve been dedicated to the team’s draft needs all season, and he noted that there are “a lot of moving parts” this year, before explainng the team’s needs this way:
You want a guy you can project playing in the playoffs. That’s what we’re all trying to do – win playoff games. Can you find a guy that has a skill? Can you find a guy that you believe has the potential to do it?
This sounds like a dream gig for a rookie, but inherent with the prime opportunity to shine is the difficulty of the task. The Warriors have the No. 28 and No. 58 picks in this year’s draft. Names that have been bandied about as possibilities to fit those needs, from the first round, are:
- Arizona State freshman shooting guard Luguentz Dort
- Belmont senior forward Dylan Windler
- Kansas junior forward Dedric Lawson
- Stanford sophomore forward KZ Okpala
- Purdue junior point guard Carsen Edward
- Washington senior shooting guard Matisse Thybulle
For the second-round pick, many believe the Warriors will draft Alen Smailagić, who has shored up his skills with the Warriors’ G-League affiliate in Santa Cruz. According to Mark Medina, Smailagić — at 6-foot-10 and 215 pounds — impressed the Warriors with “his finishing, fundamentals and rebounding.”
The 2019 NBA Draft is on Thursday, June 20, on ESPN.
