Warriors Trade Idea to Pair Steph Curry with 7-Time All-Star Wing

The Golden State Warriors need to make a splashy move to improve their contention chances next season.

The first name that comes to mind is Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he will be the most sought-after trade piece on the market. It's likely the Warriors will get outbid for the 31-year-old two-time MVP because they don't have cornerstone young players to trade for him.

The Warriors have also been linked to LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. We explore how they could trade for one of them here.

Trade Idea

Warriors Get: Kawhi Leonard
Clippers Get: Jimmy Butler, 2026 first-round pick (Warriors select it for the Clippers), 2027 first-round pick

Why the Warriors Do It

The Warriors would love to acquire Leonard and keep Curry and Butler, but that would be extremely complicated to pull off.

Golden State would probably have to get Draymond Green to opt in to his $27.7 million player option just to make him the biggest financial piece going back to the Clippers.

The deal might already be dead at that point, as the Clippers have no use for Green.

So instead the Warriors do the cleanest deal, which is trade only Butler from their current roster.

Butler is out for at least half of next season. If the Warriors could guarantee that he gets right back to the level he reached this past season, then they would have to pause before doing this.

But the uncertainty of Butler's injury recovery will probably be a cloud over the offseason. The cloud would be removed with this trade.

Meanwhile, Leonard is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. He averaged 27.9 points on 50.5 percent shooting But most importantly, he played 65 games.

That shows that the 34-year-old is capable of staying healthy after he played just 37 games in the 2024-25.

Giving up the two first-round draft picks is painful, but note that the Warriors keep every first-roujd pick after 2027, which is something team governor Joe Lacob surely prefers. To sidestep the Stepien Rule, Golden State and LA would agree to this trade on draft night and the Dubs would select a player for the Clippers, and then the trade would be officially annouced days later when the new league year has started.

This move would signal how serious the Warriors are to compete in the last couple years of Curry's career. One could expect free agents would be more interested in joining Golden State after this trade is announced.

The fact that the Warriors made a run for Leonard at the trade deadline suggests they will do it again this offseason. LA balked at the offer then, but now the Clips are coming off a play-in game loss AND Leonard is entering the last year of his deal.

The Clippers might be more willing to trade Leonard this offseason.

Why the Clippers Do It

We will find out in about two weeks if the Clippers will have any first-round selection in the 2026 draft.

If the Pacers' pick lands between 5-9, the Clippers would get it. If it doesn't, the Pacers will instead trade a 2031 first-round pick to LA.

Let's pretend they don't get a 2026 first. If that's the case, they may be more inclined to trade Leonard to accelerate their rebuild.

The Clippers have also traded swap rights on their 2027 first, so that pick will likely land in the 20s.

That's why this Warriors offer could be so enticing for them.

They get what will probably be the 11th pick in the 2026 draft, and they get what could be a great pick in the 2027 draft if the Warriors have the same injury issues that they had this past season.

They also get Butler, who could be flipped at the trade deadline if his recovery is on schedule. He'll be 37 next year, so the Clippers probably couldn't get much for him, but you'd have to believe at least one contender would be willing to give up something small for him to boost its title chances.

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