FanShot

John Hollinger's grade of the deal

37

Golden State: D+ Golden State gets the better player in Jefferson, and he may help them with their playoff run. But wait, aren't they trying to tank? Wasn't that half the reason for the Monta Ellis trade? My brain hurts. At any rate, this is a bad trade for completely different reasons -- Jefferson has one more year left than Jackson, one in which he makes $11 million. Having already taken themselves out of the free-agent race in 2012 with the original trade for Jackson two days ago, the Warriors now have punted on 2013 by taking on Jefferson; add an extension in the $10 million range for Stephen Curry and they're capped out with Curry, Jefferson, David Lee, Andris Biedrins and Andrew Bogut, and they've already used their amnesty. By 2013-14 the Warriors are likely to be swashbuckling with the luxury tax, and that will be a much more punitive monster that season than it is now. All this might make sense if they were locking in a championship contender, but they've basically committed long-term to a fairly uninspiring nucleus. The absolute best-case scenario is that they're the West Coast Atlanta Hawks. They also got a first-rounder from San Antonio, but it will be a very late one in all likelihood. Plus, nobody pays $11 million for first-round picks. Well, except Cleveland I guess.