Insider Floats 3-Time All-Star as Summer Trade Target for Warriors

The Golden State Warriors own all of their future first-round picks, which means they should be active in offseason trade rumors.

ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel offered a few names the Warriors could be interested in, but he expanded on just one name in particular: Bam Adebayo.

"Adebayo is a player the Warriors have been interested in over the last year, as we've reported at ClutchPoints, and he still holds a strong relationship with [Jimmy] Butler. Adebayo is certainly a player Warriors fans should keep in the back of their mind, especially with [Joe] Lacob also owning the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA and wanting to be aggressive in pursuing a superstar talent soon.

"A'ja Wilson, a four-time WNBA MVP, will be a key free agent target for Lacob and the Valkyries, sources said. Why would this matter for the Warriors? Well, Wilson and Adebayo have been together for years. These two becoming the faces of both Golden State franchises is certainly something to monitor."

Adebayo spent parts of six seasons with Butler. The duo reached two NBA Finals together.

What would it take to land the three-time All-Star? Let's take a look.

What an Adebayo Trade Could Look Like

Warriors get: Bam Adebayo
Heat get: Draymond Green, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, 2026 first-round pick, 2028 first-round pick

To get a star player in the offseason, the Warriors have three options. The first is to trade Butler and draft capital for the star player. The second is to sign-and-trade Kristaps Porzingis, which would hard-cap the Warriors at the first apron. The third is to convince Draymond Green to opt in to his player option with the intention of trading him with young players and picks.

All have their pitfalls. The first isn't ideal in general because Butler, when healthy, is a vital piece to the Warriors' championship puzzle, and it's especially unlikely in an Adebayo trade considering the Heat don't want Butler back and Adebayo would want to play with Butler.

The second is fraught with issues. For one, if the Warriors were hard-capped at the first apron with Stephen Curry, Butler and Adebayo on the roster, they'd have to fill 11 roster spots with about only $40 million. Even if Green took a massive discount, it's impossible to build a competitive roster this way.

The last is the scenario we're choosing here. Green opts in to his $27.7 million player option and then gets traded to Miami. Whether the Heat reroute him to a third team or keep him is up for debate, but ultimately he's the least valued part of the return package.

The Heat get two good young players in Moody and Podz, one decent first-round pick in 2026 and an unprotected first-round pick in 2028 that could be extremely valuable with Curry (37) and Butler (36) at risk of a major age-related decline.

The Heat could be convinced a reset is in their best interests, especially if they don't land Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason.

With that said, I won't act like this is an especially likely scenario.

The Heat are usually the ones big-game hunting, not selling.

Losing Moody, Podz and Green would sting for the Warriors, but they wouldn't be hard-capped at the first apron, so they'd have more ways to build a competitive roster. For one, they could likely re-sign Porzingis, which would leave just one starting spot to fill.

Adebayo is one the best defensive bigs in basketball, and offensively he's averaged at least 18 points per game in six straight seasons. A lineup of Curry, Butler, Adebayo and Porzingis with any decent shooting guard would have great potential on both ends.