2019 NBA Draft: Top 3 players for Golden State to select with 28th pick

With the potential for a major offseason shakeup or major offseason spending spree, the Golden State Warriors will need to use their two NBA Draft picks wisely to find cheap rotation players. Here are their top three options with the 28th pick.

The Golden State Warriors and their millions of impassioned fans are likely focusing solely on the current task at hand: Winning a fourth title in five years after sweeping the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals.

Players and personnel are likely looking ahead to May 30, the start of the Finals, and nothing else. No more, no less, only a week’s time. The playoffs have yet to cease, the Warriors are awaiting the completion of a riveting Eastern Conference Finals where the Toronto Raptors lead the Milwaukee Bucks 3-2, wondering which star forward — Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard — they’ll be scheming against in just a few days. They’re not thinking about the offseason yet.

But maybe they should.

With all-stars Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant heading into free agency this summer, the Warriors find themselves in a predicament: Bring both of them back, and you’re locked into a roster bill that is upwards of $160 million dollars; bring one of them back and you’re still footing a bill in the $120+ million range, and that’s before you fill out the rest of the roster.

This is what makes the 2019 NBA Draft so important for the Warriors. With two draft picks — the 28th pick in the first round and the 58th pick in the second — they are granted two shots at low-cost rotation pieces that can potentially fill in the margins of a potentially (and likely) cap-strapped roster.

Klay Thompson is eyeing a 5-year, $190-million max contract this summer. Kevin Durant? Five years, $221 million. Bringing one or both of them back is preferable for a Warriors front office and ownership group that is wanting to compete and to compete no matter the dollar amount necessary.

Their two NBA Draft picks will come in at approximately $2.5 million — $1,635,300 for the 28th pick, and, an estimated $815,605+ for the 58th pick, depending on what is negotiated between draftee and drafter — which is an inexpensive price point for a pair of players who could potentially contribute, if even in a limited manner during the regular season.

The Warriors under Steve Kerr routinely employ cerebral players that are capable of spreading the floor and moving the ball around in a free-flowing manner, with Kerr’s system ostensibly preferring players who are capable shooters and defenders.

As such, the Warriors should look to add players of a similar ilk via the draft — experienced, high-IQ players who could potentially contribute on Day One, whether it’s in the form of a guard, forward, or big. Skill is desirable, and given the draft spots that the Warriors hold, they should have some solid options available to them.

With that said, here are three players that the Warriors could target with the 28th pick of the 2019 NBA Draft.