New Orleans Pelicans: A Trade with the Warriors to Land Wiseman

Why the Warriors would trade with the New Orleans Pelicans to get Jrue Holiday

Why the Warriors would do it

On the surface this trade doesn’t necessarily look great for the Warriors. Andrew Wiggins is the type of 3-and-D wing that should work well with the Splash Brothers.

But there are a couple of reasons they might want Holiday instead.

Holiday is a better defender than Wiggins, though Wiggins is not bad. Holiday can defend both guard positions, which allows Curry to defend whoever is worse.

Holiday also gives the Warriors some amount of insurance against another Curry injury, and can take some of the heat off Curry by playing minutes at point guard.

The Warriors don’t have a lot of talent at guard and Holiday could back up both Curry and Thompson.

Holiday would allow the Warriors to unleash a small ball lineup that could still defend, as Thompson and Holiday are both above average defenders on the perimeter.

The other reason they’d do it is that the second pick in this draft is not worth much more than the 13th. The Warriors are good a drafting and developing talent, and may feel they can get a guy they like with pick 13.

They can also draft for need at that spot, adding a guy who is ready to play and can fill a hole rather than drafting for a franchise centerpiece.

With no consensus about what the top-five even looks like, this is the perfect year to trade down in the draft.

The Warriors pick up a proven asset in Holiday who helps them win now, still get to potentially add an impact player in the draft and get one less year of salary to deal with.

It makes some sense for the Warriors, but what about the Pelicans?