Report Details Trade Offer Warriors Rejected for No. 11 Pick

Should the Dubs have accepted an offer that would have allowed them to trade down?

Yaxel Lendeborg | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors listened to trade offers when they were on the clock with the No. 11 pick, and some details have emerged about one of those offers.

ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel reported that the Thunder, who held the Nos. 12 and 17 picks, offered "the 17th pick and some future assets to try to get Aday Mara."

Siegel reported that the Warriors had no intention of taking Mara, but they were trying to convince the Thunder and Hornets (who held the 14th and 18th picks) that they were going to take him with the hope that one of those team would make a big offer for the 11th pick.

In the end, the Warriors kept the pick and took Yaxel Lendeborg, allowing the Thunder to get Mara at 12.

Should the Warriors Have Traded Down?

This is a fascinating hypothetical, and I think we can safely make a number of assumptions to find out whether the Warriors could have traded down to No. 17 and still gotten Lendeborg.

In this scenario, the Thunder would have had the Nos. 11 and 12 picks. We can reasonably assume they would taken the same two players they ended up getting: Mara and Bennett Stirtz.

Since taking Stirtz, the Thunder have traded Isaiah Joe to clear cap space. Stirtz projects to be a better shooter and playmaker than Lendeborg, so my guess is they were targeting Stirtz over him.

With the 13th pick, the Bucks took Nate Ament. Considering they are starting a long-term rebuild, my guess is they were going to take Ament, 19, over Lendeborg, 23.

The Hornets came into the draft with a need for a starting center. Hannes Steinbach was probably their target with the 14th pick over Lendeborg.

Here is where things get dicier.

The Bulls took wing Dailyn Swain at 15. He has more isolation-scoring ability than Lendeborg, but he's not as big or as polished in other areas.

The Bulls have Matas Buzelis, whose best position might be the 4, and they had just drafted Caleb Wilson, who projects to play the 4. They might have felt more comfortable with Swain, who has a more traditional wing skill set on offense than Lendeborg, who also projects to be a 4 (with the versatility to play the 3). But you have to believe Lendeborg would have been on their radar and could have been the pick at 15.

The Grizzlies had the 16th pick and ended up trading down. After taking Cam Boozer, who projects to play power forward, would they have taken Lendeborg? They might have been open to trading down one spot with the Warriors.

But I'd wager that at picks 15 and 16, the Bulls and Grizzlies would have gotten calls from teams in the 19-21 range looking to trade up for Lendeborg.

So in summary, there would have been a major risk that the Warriors didn't get their guy if they traded down to 17.

If Lendeborg hits like the Warriors expect him to, they will feel justified rejecting the Thunder's offer.