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2020 NBA Draft: Top 1st round options for Golden State Warriors

By Michael Walton

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Onyeka Okongwu #21 of the USC Trojans gets past Quinton Rose #1 of the Temple Owls for a dunk in the second half at Galen Center on November 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Onyeka Okongwu #21 of the USC Trojans gets past Quinton Rose #1 of the Temple Owls for a dunk in the second half at Galen Center on November 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /
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Golden State Warriors
BELGRADE, SERBIA – MARCH 06: Billy Baron of Crvena Zvezda Mts Belgrade tries to block Deni Avdija of Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv (Photo by Nikola Krstic/MB Media/Getty Images) /

With the core of their franchise locked up for the foreseeable future, the Golden State Warriors can focus on adding a blue-chip NBA Draft prospect to help extend the title window for their aging core.

In this writer’s opinion, the 2020 NBA Draft class is not going to be ripe with elite talent but this class does contain a ton of players who will become solid starters or rotation players, with the potential for multiple breakout “All-Star types” over time. This is OK for a team in the Golden State Warriors’ position, simply looking to use the NBA Draft to restock the cupboard with some young talent. With their likely top-4 pick, the Golden State Warriors will be able to grab a player who greatly raises their floor.

The Dubs are a team that simply needs to make the postseason regardless of seed/record to be considered a title contender. This draft will allow them to shore up their biggest weakness right now, which is still a glaring hole at small forward left by the departure of Kevin Durant. That role is currently filled by the recently acquired Andrew Wiggins but the jury is still out on whether or not he will function as a longterm solution to the Dubs wing woes.

Golden State finished the 2019-20 season at 15-50, ranking 26th in defensive rating and dead-last in offensive rating. With injuries contributing to both of those terrible figures, the Dubs can choose to go in a myriad of directions knowing that they will be at full strength for the 2020-21 season. The logjam at the power forward position in Golden State and the lack of a wing prospect worthy of the No. 1 pick makes it unlikely that the Dubs select any prospect who doesn’t project as a five at the NBA. But as we all know, a team coming off of a season as bad as the Warriors’ 2020 could also go with the best prospect available and sort the rest out later.

But Golden State is unique since they are not in the classic “beggars can’t be choosers” situation that most teams at the top of the draft face. They can afford to reach for a prospect they like knowing that they have the best shooting backcourt in NBA history in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson returning for the 2020-21 season. Here’s a closer look at five prospects who should be near the top of the Warriors’ big board.

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