The Golden State Warriors’ most recent 104-93 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night helped to improve the group’s record to 40-29 as they continue to maintain placement as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.
Golden State came away the victor in a contest where 2017 Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green held Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo to zero points and forced him to miss all seven of his field goal attempts as his primary defender, proving Green is still fully capable of excellence in a small-ball center role.
While Green’s continued efforts will not go unnoticed, it’s plausible that the Warriors’ general manager Mike Dunleavy could already be assessing his future frontcourt options and which candidates he’ll look to pursue this summer.
In fact, recent reports have indicated that Golden State may have a chance to perform a major offseason transaction for the Charlotte Hornets’ rising center Mark Williams.
Of course, losing out on their desired trade target could surely anger LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the entire Los Angeles Lakers organization after they famously rescinded a trade to land Williams prior to this season’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.
“On the surface, Williams seems like a good fit for a rebuilding team like Charlotte since he is just 23 years old and the Hornets can afford to take a wait-and-see approach with him in terms of his health,” Bleacher Report’s Mike Chiari wrote Wednesday.
“Even so, the Hornets already tried to trade him once, which suggests the front office has questions about his ability to be an impact moving forward.”
“If the Hornets do make Williams available again during the offseason, Charlotte will likely have plenty of suitors given his age and penchant for impacting the game at both ends of the floor.”
One of Williams’ suitors could presumably be the Warriors, who have already displayed a level of desperation through their trade deadline acquisition of ex-Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler.
With Golden State aiming to capitalize on the remaining prime years of Stephen Curry’s illustrious career, their front office could offer a package of Buddy Hield, Trayce Jackson-Davis and first-round draft capital for the Hornets’ up-and-coming paint presence and another potential franchise-changing player that may increase their title odds for the immediate future.
At just 23 years old, Williams has exploded in his third season for Charlotte with more opportunity, as he’s averaging 15.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while connecting on 59.3% of his attempts from the field in 35 appearances.
For a talent that was originally destined to catch lob passes from the Lakers’ generational play-making duo of Dončić and James, Williams would instead look to assist Curry with notching his fifth NBA title and the eighth in Warriors franchise history.
Though it would be a tough pill to swallow for the Warriors’ organization with regard to shipping Jackson-Davis away in this scenario, Dunleavy still may not hesitate to pull the trigger on a deal of this nature if the chance were to arrive this offseason.
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