The Golden State Warriors aren’t the same team they were a year ago. Heck, they aren’t even the same team they were a few months ago.
After the loss of Κevin Durant, the Warriors were able to pull off a sign-and-trade deal to bring in D’Angelo Russell. After just half a season, though, Russell was sent packing to Minnesota for Andrew Wiggins.
Needless to say, a lot of changes have been made recently — some not very well-liked by the players. But, according to Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle, it wasn’t Russell’s departure that had everyone up in arms.
One league source told The Chronicle that many on the team were far more upset about Robinson being traded than with D’Angelo Russell getting dealt to Minnesota the next day. In addition to being a steadying locker-room presence, Robinson was an above-average defender who could knock down the open 3-pointer and find open driving lanes.
Glen Robinson III was traded to Philly as part of a February deal that included Alec Burks and several future picks. While Burks is far from a star player, he was seen as valuable to the team because of his defensive talents and shooting stroke.
As for D’Lo, it’s no secret that he wasn’t very popular within the organization and even team owner Joe Lacob admitted he wasn’t the best fit.
“Anybody who can’t see that this is a great deal for us, I don’t know what they’re thinking,” Lacob said, per Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “You can sit and talk about what his salary is, but (Wiggins) had the same salary as D-Lo. They’re both good players. They’re different players. You can question whether this is a better fit; we think it is, as much as I liked D-Lo. He’s a really good player. And I think it’s good for him, too. So it’s a fair, good thing for both teams.”
The Warriors will have the chance to test their new and improved roster next season. In the meantime, we’ll leave it up to the fans to debate on how good they can be.
