5-Team Mock Trade Lands Warriors All-Star Big Flying Under the Radar

On Thursday, ESPN's Kevin Pelton submitted five mock trade ideas involving Anthony Davis. One of them has the Warriors acquiring Davis, which we'll get to in another article.

One other involves the Warriors, but it has them landing Kristaps Porzingis.

Essentially, the Warriors would trade Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield and a 2026 lottery-protected first-rounder for the 2018 All-Star big. If the Warriors' 2026 pick falls outside the lottery, it would convert to a 2032 second-rounder.

Full Trade Details

Hawks receive: Anthony Davis, Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, Devin Carter
Warriors receive: Kristaps Porzingis
Kings receive: Trae Young, Luke Kennard
Mavericks receive: 2026 first-round pick (via Warriors, top-14-protected, otherwise 2032 second-round pick 31 to 50), 2027 first-round pick (via worse of Bucks and Pelicans, top-4 protected)
Pistons receive: Doug McDermott, cash considerations

Porzingis' Value

Porzingis' productivity has not wavered at all this season. In just 25.9 minutes per game, he's averaging 19.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 blocks. He's making 36.4 percent of his 5.1 three-point attempts per game as he continues to fill the stretch-5 role admirably.

Porzingis is in the last year of his contract making $30.7 million, which is a reasonable price for what he provides.

The Latvian won a championship with the Celtics in 2024 and overall spent two seasons in Boston. He was similarly productive, but the team was actually better with him off the court in both seasons, and he missed a lot of time due to injury.

This season, he's already missed 12 out of 25 games.

Porzingis said recently that the games he's missed this season due to illness have not been related to the Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome symptoms he experienced last season.

Why the Warriors Should Not Do This Trade

On the one hand, this is not a big price to pay for a player as talented as Porzingis. Kuminga is out of the rotation, and the Warriors have so many guards that Hield might not play consistently moving forward. And assuming Golden State takes advantage of its more forgiving schedule over the next month, the lottery-protected pick will feel much more likely to convey as a 2032 second-rounder.

But Golden State should hold out for a player who fixes more of its needs and has a cleaner bill of health.

Porzingis' POTS diagnosis makes him hard to trust. At the least, the Warriors would have manage the 30-year-old's minutes, which would be a chore considering they are already having to do that with Al Horford (39), Stephen Curry (37), Jimmy Butler (36) and Draymond Green (35).

But even if the Warriors were convinced they could manage it, he doesn't quite move the needle enough.

Among Golden State's issues are rebounding, paint scoring, paint defense and turnovers. Porzingis' rebounding rate is 12.0 percent, which is low for a center. He does score in the paint some (6.2 points in paint per game) and he has a very turnover-averse game (0.9 per game).

The main issue is his paint defense is not what it seems. Yes, Porzingis blocks 1.6 shots per game. But in his last seven seasons (including two partial seasons with different teams in 2021-22), four.of his teams have actually had a better effective field-goal percentage defense with him off the floor, per Cleaning the Glass.

In comparison to Myles Turner, the Warriors' main center trade target, that's alarming. In all 11 of his seasons, his teams have had a better effective field-goal percentage defense with him on the floor.

Porzingis and Turner are about even when they are playing. Porzingis is better offensively, whereas Turner is better defensively. But that's when health re-enters the equation, making Turner the much better target.

Ultimately, the Warriors have to get the Kuminga trade right, and they should set their sights higher before considering Porzingis. I ranked their top trade targets here, which include Turner, Herb Jones, Michael Porter Jr., Ivica Zubac and Trey Murphy III.

Any of them is a better bet, even if it cost more in draft capital.