Report Details Why Warriors Didn't Trade for Jaylen Brown, Anthony Davis

Reasons Golden State passed on both are revealed

Jaylen Brown | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Golden State Warriors reportedly had interest in trading for Anthony Davis and Jaylen Brown, but they chose to keep their draft assets instead.

The Ringer's Logan Murdock reported on why they passed on them, starting with what happened with AD this offseason.

"At summer league in Las Vegas, a small contingent of Golden State’s front office pushed for that path, but AD’s injury history and desire for a new extension ultimately convinced team brass to stay put," Murdock wrote.

Murdock then explained why the Warriors passed on Brown at the trade deadline, writing that the Dubs "couldn’t build an organizational consensus" that Brown was "the right player" to lead the Golden State franchise after Stephen Curry's retirement.

ESPN's Shams Charania recently said that the Warriors could have gotten Brown for "four first-round picks-ish."

I argued that a trade of four unprotected first-round picks and Jimmy Butler (for salary-matching purposes) for Brown would be a mistake.

But I've also argued many times that not making any type of big trade is a mistake.

Passing on Davis and Brown for the reasons they reportedly did is easy to defend, but not being able to find any win-now move this offseason is worthy of criticism.

Warriors Need to Make a Trade to Build a More Attractive Roster

We may never know exactly what LeBron James was thinking when he spurned the Warriors for the 76ers, but it can be assumed that Golden State's roster quality was a big reason for his decision.

The Warriors own their next seven first-round picks, so they have the draft capital to trade for roster improvements.

If their plan to land a big fish is to court free agents in the 2027 offseason, they'll need a more attractive roster to make them interested.

For example, Nikola Jokic could become a 2027 free agent. If a 39-year-old Curry is the only draw for coming to the Bay, Jokic will likely decide to go elsewhere. But if, say, the Warriors had Trey Murphy III alongside Curry, Jokic would likely be more interested.

It's the same logic if the Dubs want to sign potential 2027 free agents like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Brandon Ingram.

If they trade for, say, Davis to give them a star center, one of those wings would be much more likely to sign with the Warriors in free agency.