The Golden State Warriors are sitting at 14-15 and 8th in the West, which is the exact spot where patience starts turning into panic.
They’ve also been a mess in tight games, with a 6-10 record in clutch situations and a 3-6 mark in games decided by five points or fewer. That’s not “bad luck” anymore. That’s pressure showing up in the parts of games that decide seasons.
Then Saturday happened. Stephen Curry dropped 28 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns 119-116 to snap a three-game losing streak.
But with the NBA trade deadline set for February 5, the Warriors don’t have forever to keep telling themselves it’ll click every time.
1. Jonathan Kuminga
Jonathan Kuminga is the obvious one because he’s the cleanest “real asset” the Warriors can move without touching the franchise pillars. He’s also the one with the loudest fit questions, which is basically the whole reason his name keeps circling trade season.
On the court, he’s at 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists, shooting 43.1% from the field and 32.0% from three. That stat line isn’t some superstar scream, but it still matters because his athletic profile is rare. The Warriors don’t have many guys who can bend the rim, run in transition, and give you real size on the wing.
The problem is the constant tug-of-war between what Kuminga does well and what Steve Kerr asks the Warriors to be. This month alone, he dealt with knee tendinitis, missed time, then took a three-game benching that turned into an entire storyline. That’s not a small thing. Teams don’t casually bench a core player unless the relationship between role, trust, and execution is shaky.
Contract-wise, it’s simple and spicy. Kuminga makes $22.5 million this season. He also becomes trade-eligible on January 15, which is the date everyone in the league has circled. In the Warriors’ own orbit, the reporting has already framed him as a key salary slot for bigger constructions once he hits that eligibility window.
So what does that mean in real terms? It means if the Warriors go hunting for “size and athleticism,” they need a real outgoing piece, not just filler. Chris Haynes literally laid out the need, pointing at rebounding, rim protection, and paint scoring as the weak points, then naming big targets like Daniel Gafford, Nic Claxton, and Robert Williams III. If the Warriors want the best version of that swing, Kuminga is the guy who opens the door.
The league-wide vibe around him feels like this: somebody is going to convince themselves they can unlock him with a bigger, simpler role. The Warriors are trying to win now, and they might decide that “potential” is a luxury when you’re losing close games every week.
2. Buddy Hield
Buddy Hield screams “deadline trade piece” because his role is easy to duplicate and his salary is easy to stack. He’s also been the type of veteran contender teams flip without blinking if the front office thinks a different skill set matters more in April.
This season, Hield is averaging 7.9 points in 18.4 minutes, shooting 41.3% from the field and 32.0% from three. That three-point number is the painful part, because the entire point of having him is spacing. The Warriors want defenses to feel him even when he doesn’t touch the ball. When the jumper isn’t scary, everything gets tighter for everyone else.
And yes, he’s already had the “breakout from the slump” mini-arc. He briefly snapped out of it with a season-high 20 points against the Utah Jazz last month, including 4-of-8 from deep. But one good night doesn’t erase what the season-long trend looks like so far.
Now add the part that actually matters in trade season: money. Hield makes $9.2 million. That number is basically trade currency. It helps match for mid-tier contracts, it helps grease bigger packages, and it’s small enough that a lot of teams can absorb it without wrecking their cap sheet.
The rumor side is where it gets real. Evan Sidery has specifically linked the Warriors to exploring frameworks involving Hield, with the implication being that Golden State is checking what kind of upgrade that contract can help create. And when you combine that with the Warriors’ obvious hunt for an athletic center, it’s not hard to connect the dots.
If the Warriors find a rim-runner they trust, Hield is the kind of guy who can be moved without changing the identity of the team. That’s the harsh truth. He’s useful, but he’s also replaceable.
3. Moses Moody
Moses Moody is the classic “good player, unclear lane” situation, and those guys always end up in trade chatter.
He’s averaging 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 27 games, shooting 40.7% from the field and 37.7% from three. That is real production, and the three-point percentage is the exact kind of thing contenders pay for when they’re trying to tighten rotations.
The issue is that the Warriors don’t live in a world where “pretty good” automatically equals “locked-in role.” Moody keeps getting pulled into the chaos of game-to-game lineup decisions. Just look at the recent Suns loss, where he ended up at the center of a last-second foul call that the NBA later confirmed as correct in the Last Two Minute Report. That’s not saying he’s the reason the Warriors lost, it’s saying his season has had that vibe: involved, important, but never totally stable.
Financially, he’s not a minimum guy anymore. Moody is on $11.6 million. That makes him a real matching piece in trades for rotation-level players and, more importantly, for big men. Even within the current rumor ecosystem, the Warriors have been repeatedly linked to the idea of buying a true athletic center upgrade, and Moody’s salary fits a ton of constructions.
There’s also the history of him being “a name to monitor” in trade cycles, which never fully goes away once it’s out there.
My take: if the Warriors land a center and need to send out real value without sacrificing future firsts, Moody becomes painfully tempting. He’s good enough that another team talks themselves into him, and cheap enough that the Warriors don’t have to torch the roster to move him.
4. Brandin Podziemski
The tricky one for the Warriors is Brandin Podziemski. Fans love him, coaches trust him, and yet he’s exactly the type of young guard a team tosses into a deal when it’s time to stop flirting with upgrades and actually pay for one.
He’s averaging 12.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists this season, and the shooting is legit: 45.4% from the field and 41.2% from three. That’s not “future maybe,” that’s “rotation guy right now.”
The contract also makes him extremely trade-friendly. Podziemski makes $3.7 million. That’s the kind of deal every front office loves because it’s value-per-dollar. And that’s exactly why other teams would ask for him if the Warriors chase a bigger name or a higher-impact position.
On the reporting side, Sidery has said the Warriors appear “more open than ever” to including Podziemski in a trade, and that idea has been echoed across the rumor cycle as we get closer to February 5. Whether Warriors fans like it or not, that’s the sound of a front office realizing it can’t keep stacking “nice young pieces” while also trying to upgrade for a playoff run.
And the team context adds fuel. The Warriors just lost another one-point game to the Suns and dropped to 13-15, with their close-game issues staying loud. When that happens, teams start looking at players like Podziemski less like a “future story” and more like a chip.
If the Warriors make one real trade, Podziemski feels like the guy opposing GMs will keep circling in red marker.
5. Draymond Green
Draymond Green being on this list feels insane until you remember two things: he’s expensive, he’s emotional, and the Warriors might only have one shot left to swing for something massive.
Stat-wise, he’s at 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.2 assists in 23 games. But the louder stat right now is the sloppy stuff. His turnover percentage is 19.6%, the second-worst in the NBA among players meeting their minute and game thresholds, and he’s averaging 3.3 turnovers in 28.3 minutes. The Warriors have basically been two different teams depending on whether they take care of the ball, which is a brutal indictment for a team that lives on movement and precision.
Then there’s the volatility. Green got ejected against the Suns after shoving Collin Gillespie and picking up two technicals in the second quarter. That’s Draymond in a nutshell: he can change a game, but he can also hijack it.
So why would he be traded? Not because the Warriors want to be rid of him for nothing. If Draymond ever hits the trade table, it’s because the Warriors are aiming at the top shelf. Jake Fischer’s reporting has painted the idea that Golden State would only be willing to throw massive salary, including Green’s, into the mix for a true superstar-level swing, with Giannis Antetokounmpo being the obvious dream name.
Draymond makes $25.9 million. That’s enough to matter in a superstar trade conversation. And if the Warriors decide they can’t keep bleeding close games and turnovers, they might talk themselves into the unthinkable.
It would shock the league, but that’s the point. A team sitting under .500 doesn’t stay comfortable forever.
6. Jimmy Butler
This one depends on how aggressive you want to be about reading the room, because Jimmy Butler isn’t the type of name teams casually float. But the Warriors are struggling, and he’s on a gigantic number. When things go sideways, big contracts become storylines.
Butler is still producing. He’s averaging 19.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists, shooting 51.5% from the field and a wild 44.2% from three. He also just dropped 31 in that one-point loss to the Suns and 25 last night again, which tells you the “Butler can still carry stretches” part is alive and well.
The issue is not talent. The issue is cost, timeline, and flexibility. Butler makes $54.1 million. That is monster salary territory, and it turns every roster decision into math class. If the Warriors decide they need to completely reshape the team, Butler’s deal is both a weapon and a weight.
There’s also the uncomfortable truth that the Warriors’ clutch problems have come with both Curry and Butler falling short of their usual standards late, looking at their end-of-game struggles. Again, not saying they’re washed, but if your “closers” aren’t closing and you’re piling up losses, the front office starts thinking in extremes.
And here’s where the trade rumor ecosystem connects: the same superstar-chasing logic that gets Draymond’s name mentioned also drags Butler’s salary into the conversation as potential matching money, but only for the kind of move that changes your entire ceiling.
Do I think the Warriors want to trade Butler? Probably not as a first choice. But if they decide this roster needs a full reset around Curry’s last elite years, Butler is the contract that can actually move the needle in a blockbuster, for better or worse.
Final thoughts
The Warriors are hunting “size and athleticism,” and that usually means a center upgrade becomes priority No. 1. Once that’s your goal, the trade list basically writes itself: the movable salaries, the young assets, and the contracts other teams actually want.
Kuminga is the big chip. Hield is the clean salary. Moody and Podziemski are the sweeteners that make deals real. Draymond and Butler are the nuclear options.
If the Warriors stay around .500 into January, this deadline could get loud fast.
