NBA Rumors: Golden State Warriors decision to lock up young core will be costly

NBA Rumors: It's clear that the Golden State Warriors value their young core, but locking them up for the foreseeable future could be extremely costly.

Losing Klay Thompson in free agency was far from ideal for the Golden State Warriors. However, with plenty of flexibility from a trade market standpoint, there was still a chance the Warriors could improve their roster in other ways before the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.

And one way the team explored to do that was by targeting Lauri Markkanen on the trade market. Even though he wasn't aggressively shopped, the Utah Jazz did listen to offers for their rising star. In the end, the Jazz didn't end up trading Markkanen and ended up re-signing him to a five-year contract extension. Now that Markkanen is off the market, it leaves the Warriors with some big decisions to make.

According to a recent report, after missing out on Markkanen, who ended up re-signing with the Utah Jazz, the Warriors could look to lock up their young core of Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody who are both in line for contract extensions. Both Kuminga and Moody can test restricted free agency next season if they aren't signed to extensions.

The Golden State Warriors will look to lock up their young core

Now that it's pretty clear the Warriors are unlikely to make a big move before the start of the season, it would make sense for Golden State to lock up their young core. Even though Kuminga and Moody haven't made the jump the star status just yet, they are two players that the Warriors clearly value. In their rumored trade talks, they're two players Golden State has been hesitant to include in packages.

Kuminga is the player who often gets the "untouchable" tag but if the Warriors didn't value Moody, he wouldn't still be on the roster heading into the final year of his contract with the team. At this point, short of another big name emerging on the trade market, it appears the Warriors are going to move forward with their team as-is.

Whether that will end up being a mistake or not remains to be seen. However, one thing is clear, the Warriors are going to do their best to keep their young core intact. And, if the recent reporting is any indication, extensions for both Kuminga and Moody will be costly.