Will the Warriors make a bold move at the trade deadline or will they waste another elite season from Stephen Curry?

Has Steve Kerr forgotten that Stephen Curry is still a superstar? Kerr went on the Tom Tolbert Show last week and basically said that since the Warriors are no longer a top team, they won’t sacrifice their long-term assets to boost their short-term chances. Here is his quote:

“To be in the final eight and give ourselves an opportunity, that’s what we want this year and there’s no reason why we can’t give ourselves that opportunity. I just don’t want anyone to think that we’re all disappointed and that we think we should be competing for titles year after year with San Antonio and Oklahoma City next. That’s not realistic.”

You’d think Kerr knows better than anyone, as a coach and former player, how fragile repeat offers are. OKC needs to prove it can do it again, and San Antonio hasn’t proven anything yet. Golden State’s record is just 19-17, and for the third year in a row, it appears headed toward the play-in. But at age 37, Curry is having one of his most efficient high-volume scoring seasons, averaging 28.8 points per game (fourth best of his career) on 64.2 percent true shooting (fifth best of his career). Curry’s production isn’t nostalgia, and any time you have a player of that caliber, you at least have a chance. This is why treating Curry’s more magnificent runs as “unrealistic” is such a strange position. But it got weirder:

“So what does that mean for us? … If there’s anything that makes us better, that’s for sure. But all you have to do is look at some of these teams that gave up the world for a star player and now they look around: the Clippers, no picks. Phoenix, no picks. Milwaukee, no picks. So you can really paint yourself into a corner if you’re risky and irresponsible.”

Kerr is not wrong about these cautionary tales. The league is littered with teams that cashed in on every pick and woke up old, expensive and trapped. But there is a difference between being reckless and having a conviction. The Warriors are choosing caution anyway.

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Acquiring Jimmy Butler last season wasn’t enough. Butler is a very good player who provides the variety the Warriors need with offense to the rim and a ton of zero fouls. He keeps Golden State’s offense afloat when Steph isn’t on the floor. But the Warriors didn’t have to give up much to get him: Andrew Wiggins, first in 2025 and on contract. The Warriors got him at a discount because his off-court volatility depressed his market. He is no longer in his prime. At 36 years old, Butler is only making 11.8 shots per game. He no longer lives in Playoff Jimmy mode like he once did. This was a true cheap acquisition that stabilizes the Warriors, but doesn’t make them scary.

Kerr’s “irresponsible” label is a smokescreen because even after acquiring Butler, the Warriors still have full rights to their own firsts every year except 2030. In that year, they can only trade the rights of their choice if he lands in the top 20. That means Golden State can trade up to three unprotected firsts (2026, 2028 and 2032), three trades (2027, 2029 and 2031), and a protégé first (2030). That’s a lot of ammo to use for movement and there’s still some left.

The Warriors actually have the infrastructure to support a winner. Quinten Post looks like a steal, one of the few 7-footers who can protect the rim, move the ball and space the floor. Their defense is sturdier with his size next to an aging Draymond Green. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Will Richard, Pat Spencer and Gui Santos look like legitimate good rotation players with their mix of hustle, intelligence and skill. Even Brandin Podziemski, often the whipping boy of frustrated fans, is settling in with more responsibilities off the ball. The bones of a suitor are there. This is not a list that requires patience. This is why clinging to every future choice is backward.

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A year ago at this time, the Warriors were singing a similar tune. Green said he, Curry and Kerr “all disagreed with the idea of ​​mortgaging the future.” At the time, I argued that if the Warriors weren’t willing to go all-in, then either Steph should look for a new team or the Warriors should blow it. These prospects, and the one you are reading now, are all a rejection of the purgatory of both timelines that Joe Lacob and the front office have been trying to sell.

The Warriors seem paralyzed by an obsession with sunk costs for the Jonathan Kuminga era. They’re terrified of him becoming a star elsewhere, even though he clearly doesn’t fit into the Kerr system. While it seems highly likely that Kuminga will be moved between now and the February 5 trade deadline, this fear-of-missing-out logic is exactly why they are unwilling to trade future assets for a legitimate co-star. This comes from a franchise that, with its recent picks, has taken Kuminga one spot ahead of Franz Wagner, James Wiseman over LaMelo Ball and Moses Moody with Alperen Şengün and Trey Murphy III both on the board.

What the Warriors need is what they wish Kuminga was: a sizeable two-way wing capable of providing secondary shooting and scoring.

Finding this player starts with Kuminga. All summer, the Bulls, Kings and Suns were the teams most often linked to him. But nothing happened with Chicago, and Golden State didn’t want what Sacramento or Phoenix were offering. Recently, it has been the Mavericks linked to Kuminga due to the Anthony Davis situation. But unless the Warriors are willing to part ways with Draymond, getting AD is financially impossible. So, who are the Kuminga teams?

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League sources told Yahoo Sports that at least three other teams are linked to Kuminga: the Blazers, Pelicans and Wizards.

Hypothetically, Portland has Jerami Grant or Jrue Holiday to realistically offer in a trade. The Warriors are already quite small because Kerr has leaned heavily toward three- and four-guard lineups, so Holiday should probably be avoided by general manager Mike Dunleavy. But Grant makes sense. At 31 years old, Grant is an odd man out for a young Portland team, but he can still provide versatile defense, reliable 3-point shooting, and some shot creation.

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New Orleans offers top deals to Murphy and Herb Jones, however. Dunleavy should try to get both. Murphy is a versatile 6-foot-8 defender and high-volume sniper who would thrive in the Kerr motion offense. Jones is a terrifying defensive presence who could take the toughest perimeter assignment off Draymond’s aging shoulders. They would change the complexion of Golden State’s entire roster. What’s the harm in giving up multiple first rounders and Kuminga to get a duo that would help the Warriors contend for another title?

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And if that doesn’t work, you pick up the phone and call Brooklyn. Michael Porter Jr. is currently averaging nearly 26 points per night and shooting 41% from deep. There is no better choice for the Warriors than him. But around the league, rumors have been circulating since the summer that the Nets have little or no interest in Kuminga. If this is true, a three-team framework is an easy workaround.

The door shouldn’t be closed on Butler or Green deals, either. One of them would have to leave if the Warriors had any chance of signing Giannis Antetokounmpo anyway, with Butler’s $48.7 million salary being a perfect fit for a deal. Giannis’ dream aside, it’s hard to imagine too many logical deals involving Butler.

Green’s case is more complex: at 35 years old, he has not shown that he can be a defensive player night after night. For only the second time in his tenure with the Warriors, the team is statistically better defensively when he’s not on the court than when he is. We’ve seen a lot of that lately: Draymond was ejected twice in recent weeks, and even pulled out of a game after a heated discussion on the bench with Kerr.

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Green has been with Golden State since the beginning. It’s hard to believe Steph would approve of moving his longtime running mate, and it would be a shock if the Warriors had to go behind his back to make the move. But if the goal is a fifth ring and the perfect match arrives, the sentimentality must disappear with these future choices.

No one is asking Golden State to do something stupid. The goal is to do something decisive while Curry is still big enough to warrant an aggressive bet. Kerr wants fans to believe the team is smart by taking a long-term view. But the only truly irresponsible outcome is the one they’re drifting toward: wasting elite seasons at Curry to hoard draft picks that may never open a championship window.