Revisiting Warriors' OG Anunoby Trade Pursuit That Had One Regret and One Rejection

Back in 2023, the Golden State Warriors had interest in trading for OG Anunoby when he was with the Toronto Raptors.

We know the Knicks acquired Anunoby in December 2023 for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a 2024 second-round pick.

Now, Anunoby is dominating on the NBA Finals stage.

How did the Warriors lose out on the Anunoby sweepstakes? Let's revisit what happened.

The Regret

At the 2023 trade deadline, the Warriors and Raptors were engaged in trade talks centered around Anunoby.

NBA writer C.J. Holmes reported that Raptors GM Masai Ujiri "wanted [Jonathan] Kuminga, others, plus picks" and that the Warriors weren't willing to move Kuminga.

Around the same time, the Warriors were shopping James Wiseman, who had been expected to have a third-year leap and instead was regressing. They ended up dealing him as part of a four-team trade that got them Gary Payton II in return.

Perhaps the thought of trading both Wiseman and Kuminga, their two highest-drafted players in a decade, in the span of a few days was too radical for GM Bob Myers and team governor Joe Lacob.

It should be noted that Kuminga wasn't having a breakout season as a sophomore, but he was showing enough flashes of potential that the Warriors had more reason to believe he could become a star.

Golden State snuck into the playoffs as the sixth seed and got by the Kings in seven games before losing to the Lakers in six.

It often felt like the Warriors were one more quality wing player away from major title contention, and they would have had that if they traded for Anunoby.

The Rejection

In the 2023 offseason, the Warriors decided they had to trade Jordan Poole after he regressed heavily during the 2022-23 season.

The San Francisco Standard's Tim Kawakami reported that the Warriors tried to trade Poole for Anunoby, but both the Raptors and Anunoby weren't interested.

Soon after, the Warriors traded Poole for Chris Paul. It was Mike Dunleavy Jr.'s first major move as general manager.

It's not clear if the Dubs tried to trade for Anunoby again before he was moved that December. Maybe Kawakami's report that Anunoby didn't want to be a Warrior ended their pursuit.

Kuminga had a breakout third season, but the Warriors didn't show any on-court improvement from the 2022-23 season. They eventually lost in the play-in game to the Kings. Once again, it felt like they were one more two-way wing away from a major rise up the standings.

Had they gotten Anunoby and also kept Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to support Stephen Curry, they would have had something.

But they might have missed their one real shot at him at the 2023 deadline.

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