Warriors are Pursuing a Wing Player in this Draft

With the Warriors landing the #2 overall pick, it’s been assumed by many fans and analysts that the Warriors will land James Wiseman because their positional “hole” is the center position and it’s almost a guarantee the Timberwolves would take Ball or Edwards if they keep the top pick. But the Warriors might have different plans:

According to Kevin O’Connor of the Ringer, the Warriors prefer to pursue a wing with their first pick.

Could this be a smokescreen? Sure. After all, the Warriors kept stating they traded for Russell to be a valuable long-term piece, yet they traded him to the Timberwolves at the trade deadline. But if this report is true, it makes a lot of sense.

The Warriors haven’t built their dynasty on having a dominant big man, they’ve built it on their shooting and wing depth. The Warriors have had players like Durant, Barnes, Iguodola, and now Andrew Wiggins on their roster the last 5 years. At every point of their dynasty, they had a wing that can defend and create offense on the bench and now they don’t have currently have that.

The Warriors are on the record of being high on Anthony Edwards, Deni Avdija, and Isaac Okoro. All three have the potential to fit. Edwards’ scoring and two-way upside would be a tremendous addition off the bench. Deni has a similar skillset to Iggy but has more overall upside. Okoro is probably the best perimeter defender in the draft, he can pass and is amazing in transition.

In my opinion, if Lamelo Ball goes #1 overall, then there’s a great chance of the Warriors taking Edwards. Deni could also be considered at that spot, especially if Edwards gets drafted first. Okoro is somebody they’d probably trade back for.

At some point we have to accept the fact there’s no way to certainly know what the Warriors are going to do, they’re always a step ahead of everybody. All we can do is wait and see what happens.