While the Minnesota Timberwolves hold the No. 1 pick and are still not sold on which prospect to take, the Golden State Warriors will largely dictate how the draft plays out on Nov. 18. With the No. 2 pick, Golden State has any number of options available to them, whether they package it to land a star player, trade down to acquire more assets or simply draft a prospect.
The interesting aspect for the Warriors has been that, with their win-now philosophy, they haven’t viewed the top three prospects quite as fondly as the rest of the teams in the lottery. That has largely been due to the fact that those prospects do not mesh with the Warriors roster nor are they players that can contribute at a high level from day one.
For many, that has been enough to assume the Warriors don’t see there being a clear top three in the draft and reports have indicated much of the same. However, Tim Kawakami of The Athletic noted on Wednesday that the Warriors do in fact view the likes of Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball in a tier of their own.
“…the Warriors almost certainly agree with the consensus that the top three guys are in a tier above the rest.”
Ultimately, that doesn’t change much of the thinking for the Warriors. It is not mutually exclusive to feel the top three are in a tier of their own as prospects and also view them as not fits with the franchise in its current state.
That being said, it does seem to indicate that they could trade down in the draft. If they are aware that the top three are clear and they also don’t want to draft one of them, they could convince another team to move up and select one of the prospects instead and gain an asset in the process.
Again, though, which teams would be interested will be determined by who the No. 1 pick is from the Timberwolves, ultimately making much of the projecting a fruitless task with so many potential possibilities.
