NBA Trade Rumors: Warriors’ Klay Thompson And Kevon Looney To Bucks For Khris Middleton And Jabari Parker
NBA trade rumors continue to follow the Golden State Warriors and specifically, shooting guard Klay Thompson. The trouble began right after the Warriors’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals. The Gospel Herald reported that Klay Thompson’s teammates were unhappy with the poor attitude and lack of sportsmanship displayed by Thompson after the team’s Game 7 defeat, and went as far as suggesting some of the Golden State players (particularly power forward Draymond Green) would like to see Thompson sent elsewhere.
Once the Warriors were able to sign coveted free agent forward Kevin Durant over the summer, the rumor mill began to churn once again with suppositions that if the “super team” experiment doesn’t work out as planned for Golden State, Klay Thompson may be the first player the team would shop for a possible trade (per the Ecumenical News). Current NBA trade rumors are once again focusing on a deal that would land Klay Thompson in another NBA city.
5 Writers Who Said The Warriors Had To Trade Klay Thompson To Become Elite http://t.co/htIQhhiKVZ #sanfrancisco pic.twitter.com/msGkU0LqVb
— San Francisco News (@SFnewsnow) May 13, 2015
The latest trade scenario that is being discussed online has the Golden State Warriors sending Klay Thompson and power forward Kevon Looney to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for shooting guard Khris Middleton and power forward Jabari Parker. This four-player deal is, in fact, a legal trade under NBA rules, as confirmed by the ESPN NBA Trade Machine. With that hurdle cleared, let’s move on to the next topic at hand, namely whether either of these teams would actually want to shake hands on this two-for-two trade proposal.
The Golden State Warriors are highly unlikely to make any significant deals until (at least) early 2017 when there will be much more information available as to the level of success the team is achieving after adding Kevin Durant to an already-powerful lineup. The Warriors did stumble badly on opening night (a shocking 129-100 loss to the Spurs at Oracle Arena), but the team won’t panic unless things go poorly for a much longer period.
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For the sake of argument, what if the Warriors struggled through the first half of the season and began to consider a deal for Klay Thompson? In this trade scenario, Khris Middleton would replace Thompson in the Golden State lineup. Middleton is coming off a career year and has now proven himself to be not only a dead-eye shooter but a very good defensive player as well. However, there is one huge problem that would definitely keep this trade from happening this season: Middleton’s health issues.
Khris Middleton injured his left hamstring and had surgery about a month before the 2016-17 season began. He is projected to miss most, if not all of the current NBA season due to this serious injury and required recovery time after surgery. Clearly, there is no way the Warriors would give up Klay Thompson for a player who will be out for an extended period, so this NBA trade rumor is effectively “busted.”
An intriguing aspect of this rumored trade offer is that it may have been of interest to both teams if Middleton was healthy and Golden State felt the need for a change. Jabari Parker is an up-and-coming young talent, and could have found some playing time at power forward and even at center in some of the Warriors’ smaller lineups. Parker would have also provided insurance in case Draymond Green is eventually dealt, which is another potential move that has been rumored for months.
This NBA trade rumor stretches the concept of “hypothetical” to its limits, but the rumored proposal does offer fair value to each team. The trade would actually leave the Milwaukee Bucks a bit weak at power forward, but they would probably still agree to the trade to get a player of Klay Thompson’s caliber. Giannis Antetokounmpo, also known as “The Greek Freak,” would play significant minutes at the point guard spot to make room for Thompson at shooting guard.
Current NBA trade rumors are pointing toward an eye-catching swap between the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks. There are multiple issues with this rumored deal, and it simply will not happen this season. However, it’s a compelling trade scenario that offers value for both sides, and would certainly warrant a second look if this proposal was actually being discussed and all the other “what ifs” were in play. This speculative Warriors-Bucks transaction is a good one for fans to analyze and debate, even though it appears to be a creation of the rumor mill, and nothing more.
[Featured Image by Aaron Gash/AP Images]
