With one week before the Feb. 9 trade deadline, the Warriors stand at 26-25 and locked into the seventh seed in the West.
Golden State has historically taken a passive trade deadline approach under general manager Bob Myers, but the defending champions’ first-half struggles and the reality that this year could be their last chance to make a run with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green may put pressure on them to add to the roster.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, Golden State brass has mulled trading for 76ers wing Matisse Thybulle, a defense-first perimeter players whose role has diminished this season.
“Multiple NBA sources said the Golden State Warriors have had internal discussions about Thybulle and that they do like him as a defensive stopper,” Pompey wrote.
Thybulle, who turns 26 this month, has made two All-Defense teams in his three seasons prior to this one. But his inability to shoot from outside has reduced his role on the Sixers; he’s playing 12.1 minutes per game, down from 25.5 last year. His most recent game was a nine-minute burst in which he didn’t attempt a field goal.
Pompey also noted that the Sacramento Kings could be interested in acquiring Thybulle.
The Sixers didn’t make Thybulle available in trades during the James Harden negotiations or in 2021 when they looked to add Kyle Lowry. They got Harden without including Thybulle, but making him untouchable for Lowry seems questionable in hindsight given his trajectory.
Thybulle could fit on the Warriors as another player to throw at opponents’ best scorers, though Jonathan Kuminga has stepped up in that regard recently. GSW also has Andre Iguodala, health permitting, to manage the same role. And Thybulle’s 32.5% career 3-point mark — inflated due to teams leaving him wide open — might prove to be an awkward fit in Golden State’s free-flowing offense.
Thybulle also becomes a restricted free agent after this season, so the tax-strapped Warriors could actually shed salary by trading for him as a rental and letting him go in free agency.
If Golden State indeed pursues Thybulle or other trade deadline candidates, their most likely trade chips include Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman. Sacrificing the club’s future — the second of two timelines — for the present may be unpopular with some in the organization, though. Bob Myers’ expiring contract could also loom as a complicating factor.