Golden State Warriors' Key Trade Assets for the Future
The rest of the league already knows the answer before the call connects.
If you want to do business with the Golden State Warriors right now, there are only a few names and numbers that matter. Stephen Curry is not one of them. His future is essentially off the market, parked in a separate category where 38-year-old legends are told to name their price and their timeline. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported this week, there is no negotiation there, just a franchise waiting on its cornerstone.
Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody are off the board for a different reason. Mike Dunleavy made it clear in August: neither will play in the Oct. 21 opener, and there is no timetable for either rehab. That uncertainty strips them of trade value in the short term and leaves Golden State with three real assets that actually move the needle.
Those assets will define what this era becomes: a bridge to something new, or one last hard charge around Curry.
No. 3: Kristaps Porzingis and the Contract That Travels
Kristaps Porzingis arrived in February from Atlanta in the Jonathan Kuminga deal, a midseason swing that felt more like a cap maneuver than a franchise reset. In June, Golden State doubled down, handing him a two-year, $40 million extension with a player option on the second year.
John Hollinger of The Athletic reported the crucial detail: the agreement was structured as an extension, which keeps Porzingis eligible to be traded immediately. No waiting period, no handcuffs. He’s movable from day one.
On the floor, the numbers were solid but not transformative: 16.7 points and 5.2 rebounds across 32 games, only 15 of those in a Warriors uniform. The sample is small, the impact uneven.
The real value sits on the ledger. A $19.5 million salary is the perfect size in today’s NBA—large enough to bring back a legitimate player, flexible enough to fit into a variety of constructions. For a front office that chose continuity all summer, that number is the pressure valve if a star somewhere else finally shakes loose.
Porzingis ranks third on this list for a reason. A 31-year-old big who has logged just 15 games for his new team can’t anchor a blockbuster by himself. He’s the matching salary, the useful piece, the contract that makes a bigger idea possible. If Golden State needs to scale up a deal, he’s the first serious chip that gets pushed into the middle.
No. 2: The Warriors’ Own First-Round Picks
The league just received a harsh reminder of what draft picks are worth in the current climate. The NBA stripped the Clippers of five future first-rounders as punishment in the Kawhi Leonard case, a staggering haul that underlined how front offices view those tiny lines on a future draft board.
Golden State, almost uniquely for a team built around a 36-year-old Draymond Green and an aging Curry, still holds a meaningful stash. A May breakdown had the Warriors retaining their own first-round picks in 2027, 2028, 2029, 2031 and 2032. The 2030 first goes to Dallas only if it lands outside the top 20.
That kind of long-range control is rare for a veteran contender. It’s also exactly what rival executives circle when they think about the post-Curry landscape. Nobody can say what the Warriors will look like in 2029. That uncertainty is the point. It’s why those picks are so expensive.
Golden State already showed its hand once this summer. The front office held onto the No. 11 pick in June and used it on Yaxel Lendeborg instead of flipping it for immediate help. That was a vote for patience, or at least for optionality.
But patience has an expiration date. The day this roster clearly needs a real upgrade, those future firsts become the first thing that gets discussed. Picks answer phones. Picks keep stars in play. Picks are how you attach Porzingis and walk away with something that changes the room.
No. 1: Brandin Podziemski, the Piece Nobody Wants to Give Up
Every team has a player who starts every trade conversation. For the Warriors, that’s Brandin Podziemski.
He’s 23. He played all 82 games last season. He averaged 13.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists while making just $5.7 million in the final year of his rookie deal. That is the holy grail in a cap-tight league: a young, productive guard on a bargain contract.
Rival front offices see more than the box score. They see a guard with feel, toughness and room to grow, plus the added bonus of restricted free agent rights if they trade for him now. If he breaks out this year, his next contract only gets more expensive—but that’s a problem teams are happy to have when the player is this good, this early.
Dunleavy knows it. In August, he said the preference is to get an extension done rather than let Podziemski drift into restricted free agency next summer.
“When he’s on the court, we’re a better team,” Dunleavy said.
Nothing is signed yet. The extension window closes on Oct. 19. Until pen hits paper, Podziemski is both Golden State’s most coveted asset and its biggest internal decision.
For now, the stance is clear: he’s the one they least want to move. That’s exactly why everyone else keeps asking.
Golden State finished 37-45 last season, 10th in the West, a record that felt as jarring as it looked. With Butler and Moody already ruled out to start this campaign, Dunleavy walks into the season with a choice he can’t dodge by February.
Do these assets—Porzingis’ contract, a stack of future firsts, and Podziemski—fuel the next iteration of Warriors basketball, or do they bankroll one more full-throttle push around Curry?
The internal logic is straightforward: keep Podziemski and the picks unless the return is a star with years left on his deal. Let Porzingis go if the right offer lands on the table.
The clock is ticking on Curry’s window. The real question is whether Golden State spends its best chips now, or risks finding out what those 2029 picks actually look like when the dynasty glow is gone.
