NBA Trade Rumors: Warriors still believe they can pull off season-changing trade

NBA Trade Rumors: The Golden State Warriors believe they're in a good position to upgrade the roster via trade as start of NBA season approaches.

In an ideal world, the Golden State Warriors would've been able to seal the deal in their pursuits via trade for Lauri Markkanen. In the end, the Utah Jazz may never have been all that serious about trading Markkanen and perhaps the Warriors weren't all too thrilled about the idea of gutting their roster for a player who may not even help elevate the team toward contender status in the Western Conference.

Nevertheless, after the deal ultimately fell through, the Warriors could be considered a team stuck in mediocrity. They don't have a good enough roster to realistically compete in the West for a championship but also aren't bad enough where they'll be able to secure a high draft pick in the highly-touted 2025 NBA Draft class.

But all isn't bleak for the Warriors; at least not in their eyes. As the end of the NBA offseason quickly approaches, the Warriors reportedly still believe they're in a good position to upgrade the roster via trade at some point in the next couple of months.

Whether Golden State will be able to find the right trade target remains to be seen, but they still seem confident the right move could be out there for them and, perhaps most importantly, they feel they'll be able to pull it off.

What other stars could the Golden State Warriors pivot to?

It's hard to predict which types of players the Warriors could end up targeting after missing out on Markkanen but a group of "available" players on the trade block certainly exists. The likes of Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, DeAndre Hunter, Bruce Brown, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Clarkson, and Jerami Grant are all players who could be on the move for the right price.

Would the Warriors want to pivot to any of those names at the moment? It would be surprising if they did. If I had to guess, Golden State is probably going to wait until the NBA Trade Deadline season to see how the rest of the trade market develops. At that point, if the Warriors still aren't able to make a move, that's when it could be time to spark up the Steph Curry trade watch.

As he heads into the final few years of his career, Curry likely wants to be in a position to compete for another championship. If he can't do that with the Warriors, you can't help but wonder if he would be open to exploring other possibilities.

For now, though, there's no real reason to entertain that. However, if the Warriors do get off to a sluggish start and don't find themselves in a real position to upgrade the roster, the whispers are truly going to begin to grow.