The 2019-20 NBA season has been a profound change of pace for the Golden State Warriors. Over the past five seasons, the standard has been a trip to the NBA Finals for the Warriors, but injuries have rerouted their season.
Instead of focusing on the playoffs, Golden State has set its sight on the 2020 NBA trade deadline. Golden State has already traded Willie Cauley-Stein to the Dallas Mavericks and now have several members of their team mixed into trade rumors. Multiple reports point to teams pursuing D’Angelo Russell, with Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III also linked to trades.
Worrying about trade rumors is new to Draymond Green and the rest of the Steve Kerr era Warriors. Green spoke to media after the Warriors win in Washington about how Golden State is handling this trade deadline in comparison to the past.
I think everything is different — it’s not quite the same, nothing is really the same, so you can’t approach it with the same mindset, but as a player just try and go out there each and every night and step on the floor to just play — forget about all those things, that’s why those guys have agents that handle whatever is going to happen, you know and you focus on doing your job and that’s what we try to do.
Reporters asked Green in Washington if the impact of the looming trade deadline was causing any angst in the Warriors’ locker room.
Yeah definitely — I think so, but it’s not something we’re focused on — we’re all realistic, we understand this business and what could possibly happen — we will just continue to play and continue to try and win — go from there.
Golden State will finish up their east coast road swing Brooklyn with a chance to register a winning road trip on the eve of the NBA trade deadline. When the Warriors return to the Bay Area, the trade rumors for the 2019-20 season will be put to rest.