Mike Dunleavy keeps hinting at an in-season move, so it is worth sorting out which Warriors are most likely to be playing elsewhere by the deadline.
The Golden State Warriors have spent the offseason mostly running it back, and their general manager is not pretending otherwise.
Mike Dunleavy said this month that the front office views the season itself as the place where this roster gets upgraded, pointing to the team's recent history of midseason additions.
With Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody both working back from significant injuries and last season's 37-win finish still fresh, the question in the Bay is not whether Golden State will explore a trade but who goes out the door when they do.
"If you just look at our books, our assets, all that stuff, we've got a lot of ways to entice teams and make things available and worthwhile for them to do a trade with us," Dunleavy said, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.
The Top Of The List
Brandin Podziemski leads this ranking, and it is not particularly close.
He is the most likely Warrior to be moved this offseason because his salary sits at $5.7 million while a coming extension could cost more than $20 million a year.
A productive young guard on a small number is exactly the piece other front offices ask about, and Podziemski averaged 13.8 points while appearing in all 82 games last season, which is why his name keeps surfacing even though the team likes him.
Kristaps Porzingis ranks second.
His two-year, $40 million extension was structured so he became trade-eligible right away, which turned him into the sort of mid-tier salary that makes bigger deals work.
Porzingis played only 15 games for Golden State after arriving last season, so his value depends on health, but the contract is built to move.
The Wild Cards
Moses Moody comes third.
His $12.5 million salary is useful matching money in almost any midsize trade, though the knee injury that will keep him out to start the season means any deal likely waits until he is back on the floor and showing teams something.
Butler is the long shot at the back of the list.
His enormous expiring contract is the one piece that could anchor a true blockbuster, and is among the likeliest to move for exactly that reason, but teams rarely pay full price for a star rehabbing an ACL tear.
Who Stays Put
Nobody should expect Stephen Curry to appear on a list like this, since the franchise remains built around him even after a season limited to 43 games.
The young pieces face a different sort of math, from rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, who is a draft steal after his Summer League MVP run, to the Nets sharpshooter Golden State is reportedly not expected to target despite the positional fit.
Curry made Hall of Fame history off the court this summer, and the front office's whole plan is to hand him a better roster by spring.
An empty summer only makes sense if the pieces fit and are healthy, and that is a big question at this point.
