Warriors Role Player Gasses Up New Trade Deadline Addition

The Golden State Warriors somehow have a bit of hope. Even though their season isn’t going exactly as planned, it seems like the Warriors players and coaches still believe they could make some noise come playoff time. Without Jimmy Butler, this is going to be extremely difficult, but the Warriors did make a deadline trade that could raise their ceiling significantly. 

The Warriors swapped Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield for Kristaps Porzingis at the trade deadline. Kuminga and Hield were barely in the rotation, and although Porzingis has struggled to stay on the court in his own right, he could help the Warriors a lot in the latter half of the season. 

Recently, Warriors role player De’Anthony Melton spoke about the acquisition of Porzingis. 

“He’s a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams. You see with the Spurs, you have Wemby, who’s 7-a lot, and the stuff he can do and the matchup nightmares he brings to the table. So I think (Porziņģis being) out there, it’s just going to give us a lot of size and a lot of mismatches that we need. Some teams he’s gonna kill just cause they can’t physically match up with him.”

Putting Wembanyama-like pressure on Porzingis feels like a lot. He’s only played 17 games this season, and has struggled with his health for a couple of years now. 

When he does play, he can have a huge level of impact. Will he be as good as Wembanyama? Probably not. Still, the Warriors can rally some hope around their new addition and maybe he can help them win a playoff round.