The Warriors are eyeing a star to pair with Stephen Curry

• The Warriors will explore all their options.
• They could trade for another star.
• Joe Lacob wants to lower the payroll.

The Warriors Will Look To Make A Move

The Golden State Warriors season went far from expected. Two years removed form being the NBA champions, they could never become a true playoff contender, and they didn’t even make the postseason.

Stephen Curry continues to be in his prime, and he’s still one of the best players in the league. But he cannot win on his own, and they must add more talent around him.

Unfortunately for them, this free-agent class isn’t exactly impressive. However, as reported by Logan Murdock of The Ringer, there could be some potential trade targets, including Karl-Anthony Towns.

Warriors Are Keeping An Eye On Karl-Anthony Towns

“This offseason’s free agent class is underwhelming, but several competent wings could be available via trade, including Portland’s Jerami Grant, Toronto’s Bruce Brown, and Washington’s Kyle Kuzma,” wrote Murdock. “Golden State’s front office has also long kept an eye on Karl-Anthony Towns, who, depending on Minnesota’s playoff fortunes and projected luxury tax bill, could be available this summer.”

Karl-Anthony Towns — Getty Images

The Warriors Don’t Want To Spend

Still, there’s one major issue with any potential big move. Team owner Joe Lacob admitted that he’s looking to get out of the luxury tax, so they’ll have to juggle their way around the salary cap:

“Our Plan 1, or 1A, is that we’d like to be out of the tax, and we think that we have a way to do that. That kind of is the plan, not just under the second apron,” Lacob told The Athletic. “I’ll tell you why that’s important because the truth is, we need to be out of the tax two years out of the next four in order to get this repeater thing off our books. We don’t want to be a repeater.”

That most likely means that Klay Thompson could be out of the Bay unless he takes a major pay cut, and picking up Chris Paul’s option to trade him for other players would also be off the table.

Then again, you have to do what you have to do, and they need to make the most of their top-10 player in NBA history while they still can. This offseason will be a defining one for the Dubs.