ESPN Trade Idea Has Warriors Landing Top Target for Steep Price

The Golden State Warriors have been linked to Trey Murphy III for weeks, and on Thursday, ESPN's Zach Kram and Kevin Pelton came up with a three-team trade idea that gets the Dubs their man.

Here is the proposal in full:

Warriors get: Trey Murphy III, Jordan Hawkins
Pelicans get: Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, 2026 first-round pick (via Warriors), 2028 first-round pick (via Warriors, top-10-protected), 2030 first-round pick (via Warriors, if No. 5 to 20)
Jazz get: Kevon Looney, 2031 second-round pick (via Raptors), 2032 second-round pick (via Pelicans), cash considerations

Let's consider how realistic this is.

Is Murphy Worth This Package?

Murphy is having the most efficient scoring season of his career. He's averaging career highs in points (21.3), field-goal percentage (49.5) and effective field-goal percentage (59.2).

In comparison, Stephen Curry's effective field-goal percentage is 58.6.

As an athletic, 6'8" wing, Murphy would help the Warriors on defense as well. He's not known for being a great defender, but the 25-year-old has the traits to be very good on the less glamorous end. At the least, he'd immediately make many of their lineups not so small, which would help in a variety of ways.

If the Warriors got deep into trade talks with the Pelicans, the protections on the first-round picks would be debated. The Pelicans would likely ask for three unprotected picks—perhaps in 2026, 2028 and 2032—and the Warriors would ask for the protections in the above trade proposal.

Losing Moody is a minor blow, but at least the Warriors wouldn't be at risk of trading a top-four pick in 2028 or 2030.

This feels like a trade package the Warriors should do. The Pelicans might ask for the picks to be less protected.

Are the Warriors and Pelicans Realistic Trade Partners?

The reports on the Pelicans' interest in Jonathan Kuminga have been all over the place.

I've been speculating that the Pelicans like Kuminga as salary filler in a three-plus-team trade for Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray or Zion Williamson. All three are under contract for at least $30.8 million this season and at least $32.8 million next season.

The Pelicans would likely love to trade all of them. Derik Queen is their frontcourt star of the future, so they have no use for Williamson anymore. Jeremiah Fears is their point guard of the future, making Murray and Poole expendable.

So that's my explanation for why The Athletic's Sam Amick reported "the feedback is mixed" on whether the Pelicans value Kuminga.

Kuminga, 23, is two years younger than Murphy, so in that sense he fits New Orleans' timeline a bit better. But Murphy is young enough to be a building block for the Pels' next contender.

Put simply, the Pelicans have no reason to trade Murphy. There's a good chance they don't draft a player as good as him with the three first-round picks they'd acquire from the Warriors or other contenders. And his contract—at four years, $112 million—is so valuable that they should be asking for the moon.

Though the Warriors' draft picks are valuable because the team could fall off a cliff when Stephen Curry retires, the Pelicans would likely want at least one prospect they love as well as picks to trade Murphy.

The Warriors likely don't have that prospect, which is why I suspect the Pelicans will keep their star wing.