Takeaways from Warriors' Win Over Kings: TJD Trade Looks Even Better

The Golden State Warriors used a 9-1 closing run to beat the Sacramento Kings 110-105 Tuesday at Chase Center.

In his second game back from a 27-game absence, Stephen Curry had 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting, five rebounds and two assists.

De'Anthony Melton had a team-high 21 points, while Brandin Podziemski chipped in with 20.

The Kings were paced by Killian Hayes with 18 points.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's game.

Bassey Makes Jackson-Davis Trade Look Even Better

The one downside to trading Trayce Jackson-Davis for a 2026 second-round pick was Golden State would be without a fourth-string center. For most teams, that wouldn't be a reason to hesitate to make a trade. But for the Warriors, who have three centers who have spent a lot of time on the injury report this season, it was a gamble.

When the injury bug hit the center rotation, the Warriors signed Omer Yurtseven to two 10-day contracts. He did not impress, and perhaps some wondered if they made a mistake trading Jackson-Davis.

On Sunday, the Warriors replaced Yurtseven with Charles Bassey, and Bassey has immediately paid dividends. He was especially impressive Tuesday with 14 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

His combination of size and athleticism is different than what Jackson-Davis provides. Rebounds in Bassey's area are his. When Bassey gets a pass in the paint, he's looking to dunk it.

These aren't exactly rare things to say about an NBA center, but they rarely applied to Jackson-Davis. That's not to say Jackson-Davis never got a tough rebound or finished a play with a contested dunk, but at 6'9", he isn't big enough to do some of things Bassey does.

Bassey's future with Golden State is not clear. He'd surely love to get a standard contract from an NBA team for next season.

The Warriors should consider giving him one. And even if they go in a different direction, the fact that the Dubs could find a center on the April free-agent market who is arguably better than TJD suggests they can find a TJD upgrade in the draft or free agency this offseason.

Steph Is Ready for Rise in Minutes

Before the game, Steve Kerr said Stephen Curry would play about 26 minutes on Tuesday, just like he did on Sunday.

So it's no surprise Curry finished with 25 minutes.

Curry didn't look gassed at all, though it should be noted that this wasn't exactly a high-intensity game. Nonetheless, he looks ready to increase his minutes total for Thursday's game against the Lakers.

After a miserable third quarter in which Curry had zero points and three turnovers, Curry had a game-tying three with 2:38 to go. He missed two difficult step-back threes after that, but again, it did not look like anything limiting him physically.

Melton Finds Stroke Just in Time

From Feb. 28 to Apr. 2, De'Anthony Melton shot 36.4 percent from the floor and 25.8 percent from three.

Surely some of that had to do with a nagging thumb injury.

On Tuesday, he broke out of that slump, scoring 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 4-of-6 from three.

Melton's defense just about guarantees that he'll play major minutes in the play-in tournament. The Warriors need him to be at least a 36 percent three-point shooter that he's been in his career.

If thumb is indeed feeling better, that should be a goal Melton can achieve.