While it is early in the NBA season, the Golden State Warriors are one of the few teams that can be certain of their outlook moving forward. Long-term injuries to Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, nagging short-term injuries to Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell and departures of Andre Iguodala and Kevin Durant has decimated the defending Western Conference champions.
All of that has added up to a league-worst three wins in the first 17 games. With a spot in the draft lottery a near certainty even in the opening months of the season, the Warriors have turned to scouting the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft.
In a piece for The Athletic, Anthony Slater reported that Warriors general manager Bob Myers will head to Australia to recruit the NBL’s pair of Next Stars.
“In the coming weeks, I’ve been told Myers is planning to make a trip over to Australia, where he’ll be able to scout LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton in person.”
Both LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton are guards, the latter considered more of a combo guard than the former. The Warriors already have a gluttony of guards in Curry, Thompson and Russell as is. While Russell has long been seen more as a trade piece than a part of the core moving forward, there are still two franchise guards on the roster.
The Warriors likely are using the opportunity to simply do due diligence and scout all of the young prospects atop the draft boards. Still, having a Ball brother become a Splash Brother is certainly an intriguing prospect.