The Golden State Warriors would like to trade Kristaps Porzingis by December 15. However, they’re not about to sacrifice draft capital to do it for a long-term contract.
There’s not a ton of pressure on the Warriors to trade Porzingis, who isn’t being paid as he decides to “step away” from basketball, which he allegedly loves. He and the NBA Players Association aren’t planning to challenge to Warriors taking him off the payroll, which saves Joe Lacob about $250K per game. He may not play this season,
for the Warriors or anyone else, but that doesn’t mean his contract is an albatross.
According to Clutch Points, the Warriors have had trade talks regarding Porzingis with the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, and Milwaukee Bucks. They’re reportedly interested in 26-year-old center Jalen Smith of the Bulls, who is making $9.4M in the last year of his contract. It’s not clear who on the Pelicans’ roster has interested the Warriors, but with the Bucks, it’s center Myles Turner, who is signed through 2029 for $82.6M.
The Bucks want the Warriors to give them draft picks in a Turner trade, which would have to include another player (Moses Moody?) heading to Milwaukee, as the Warriors can’t take back more money than they send out. The Warriors think that taking on that much of Turner’s salary means they should be getting a draft pick, not the Bucks.
Turner is having a wretched season for the Bucks, who are in a weird rebuild limbo since trading Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer. They got four players back from the Miami Heat, drafted two players in the lottery, and have veterans Tyler Herro, Kyle Kuzma, and Caris Levert on expiring deals. They’re 1-9 and since they don’t have their own first-round pick until 2031, the Bucks don’t even have incentive to avoid the lottery penalty for having one of the league’s worst records.
The 30-year-old Turner is averaging 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds this season, though he is blocking 2.5 shots per game. His effort seems to be lacking, as seen in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics Sunday.
What Turner can provide, assuming he’s trying, is a rare combination of rim protection and outside shooting. He’s a career 36.4% three-point shooter and has blocked 2.1 shots per game for his career. Turner was the pivot man on an Indiana Pacers team that was a Tyrese Haliburton Achilles injury from winning a title. It’s easy to see how he’s a logical replacement for Porzingis, with the bonus that he’s played at least 71 games the last three seasons.
But his contract is n0t good. It’s even worse for the Bucks, since they waived-and-stretched Damian Lillard’s contract to afford the deal, and Dame Time now costs them $22.5M on the salary cap for each of the next four seasons. By contrast, Porzingis is on the books for only $3M next season, isn’t get paid anything right now, and might take a buyout on the $17M+ remaining on this year’s deal.
The key calendar date for the Warriors is Dec. 15, because of the NBA’s “reaggregation” rule. Players acquired before that date can be combined with other players/contracts until the trade deadline. This came up for the Warriors in Dec. 2024, when they traded De’Anthony Melton for Dennis Schroder just before the reaggregation deadline, then aggregated Schroder’s salary in the blockbuster trade for Jimmy Butler.
That’s why a player like Smith could be more appealing for the Warriors than Smith, as he could provide temporary help while still remaining highly moveable in a later trade. The Warriors could conceivably take back their old friend Buddy Hield in such a trade, as his salary and Smith’s are still less than Porzingis’ total money — and Hield can be waived next summer for just over $3M.
There’s a lot of possibilities for what the Warriors do with Porzingis. But giving up future draft picks to ditch him does not seem to be one of them.
