After rising to the No. 1 seed within the Western Convention with a outstanding 12-3 report to begin the 2024-25 season, the Golden State Warriors have come again to Earth in current weeks.
Golden State’s most up-to-date loss to the Denver Nuggets by a rating of 119-115 on Tuesday night time marked its fifth straight loss, with the workforce now sitting at 12-8 and falling to sixth.
Whereas lots of their struggles have been tied to the inconsistent play of their two-time league MVP Stephen Curry and De’Anthony Melton’s season-ending ACL damage, a few of their most evident points have been because of to their current lack of bench manufacturing and standard turnover points.
Particularly, Brandin Podziemski, a member of the Warriors’ 2023-24 All-Rookie First Group, hasn’t progressed in addition to their high brass anticipated throughout the offseason.
Podziemski’s stoop got here with averages of 8.0 factors and three.5 assists, together with 39.0% taking pictures accuracy from the sector and a putrid 20.0% clip. three factors.
As Podziemski’s offensive slide continues by means of 19 appearances this season, Warriors common supervisor Mike Dunleavy could also be tempted to contact the Utah Jazz to inquire a few gifted scorer with comparable qualities to their Second-year guard in hassle.
The Utah Jazz acquired Collin Sexton 4 years after the Cleveland Cavaliers chosen the 6-foot-3 guard eighth total within the 2018 NBA Draft.
This season, Sexton is averaging 16.9 factors, coupled with a career-best 42.7% three-point share. Sexton’s productive play for a 4-17 Jazz workforce that might quickly launch a hearth sale has positioned his identify firmly in commerce hypothesis.
Sexton’s placement on Utah’s buying and selling block has been mentioned in league circles, as current stories would point out.
“Collin Sexton will generate a really robust market amongst contending groups as a beginning sixth man or first baseman,” Evan Sidery of Forbes shared by way of Twitter/X on Thursday afternoon.
“Sexton has a contract value $18.4 million this yr and $19.2 million in 2025-26.”
Sexton’s dependable offensive expertise and defensive depth could possibly be a lovely asset for Golden State, as it’s believable to view Sexton as a extra refined and confirmed Podziemski.
Sexton, 25, could possibly be despatched to Golden State for a package deal seemingly together with Podziemski and one other younger prospect like Moses Moody, or first-round compensation.
The addition of Sexton would supply one other scoring choice able to taking stress off Curry and Andrew Wiggins together with his shot-creating capability.
Extra NBA: Lakers may hit the jackpot by buying a trio for $242 million in a multi-team commerce
