{"id":174110,"date":"2026-01-24T13:55:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=174110"},"modified":"2026-01-24T13:55:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T18:55:37","slug":"warriors-will-disappoint-steph-curry-with-trade-deadline-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/24\/warriors-will-disappoint-steph-curry-with-trade-deadline-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Will Disappoint Steph Curry With Trade Deadline Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Golden State Warriors<\/a> are a team looking for silver linings. Jimmy Butler<\/a>\u2019s torn ACL has forced the team to reconsider its short-term and long-term plans. The Warriors are signaling they will not make drastic moves at the trade deadline and that decision will disappoint Steph Curry, who is turning back the clock with a career year.<\/p>\n

Warriors Will Disappoint Stephen Curry With Trade Deadline Decision<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A Season That Fell Short of Expectations<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Jan 19, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III (10) is helped off the court after a knee injury during the third quarter against the Miami Heat at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Warriors sit eighth with a 25\u201321 record. Entering the season, optimism ran high. Golden. State aimed to build on last year\u2019s success. After acquiring Butler in February, Golden State went 23\u20137 with him in the lineup to close the regular season. The Warriors have not matched that dominance this year. They have gone 23\u201315 with him.<\/p>\n

Front Office Priorities<\/h3>\n

Butler will miss at least a year. He is dealing with a serious knee injury at age 36. This situation puts immediate pressure on the front office and coaching staff. They must find a replacement. The front office is focused on landing a superstar, \u00e0 la Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur picks always will and have been in play,\u201d GM Mike Dunleavy said<\/a> Tuesday night, via NBC Sports Bay Area. \u201cTo give up our picks, it\u2019s got to be meaningful to get something back. For that reason, only so many players warrant putting that on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunleavy continued: \u201cBut we\u2019re looking at everything. Joe Lacob is our owner, so you\u2019re always exploring all possibilities. You\u2019re willing to do any type of deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Summer Play, Not a Deadline Move<\/h3>\n

Reading between the lines, the Warriors will only pursue a franchise cornerstone. They will not chase marginal upgrades. They have been linked to Trey Murphy III<\/a> and Giannis. Their teams will require massive offers. New Orleans has made Murphy unavailable. Milwaukee and Giannis appear destined for a split. That move seems likely to happen in the summer.<\/p>\n

The Warriors control their future. Golden state own all their first-round picks except 2030, which they owe to Washington. They plan to make a splash in the summer. In the meantime, they will likely tank the rest of the season. That path gives them the best chance to build a stronger contender. They can secure a lottery prospect in a historically deep draft. They can also prepare for a blockbuster summer trade.<\/p>\n

The downside remains clear. This approach wastes one of Curry\u2019s greatest statistical seasons. He averages over 27 points, about five assists, and four rebounds. Curry shoots 47 percent from the field. He shoots over 39 percent from three. Steph Curry has always been the consummate teammate and leader for the Warriors, so even as the Warriors will disappoint Steph Curry, it is unlikely he will voice that disappointment publicly.<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Golden State Warriors are a team looking for silver linings. Jimmy Butler\u2019s torn ACL has forced the team to reconsider its short-term and long-term plans. The Warriors are signaling they will not make drastic moves at the trade deadline and that decision will disappoint Steph Curry, who is turning back the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":174344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,25,3,4721],"tags":[50244,306,412,1015,4745,48,4382],"class_list":["post-174110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-mike-dunleavy-jr","tag-nba-draft-lottery","tag-nba-injuries","tag-stephen-curry","tag-trey-murphy-iii"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174110"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174350,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174110\/revisions\/174350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}