With the likelihood of keeping their 2012 NBA Drat pick dwindling with every inspired win, the Golden State Warriors went out and acquired a couple of draft picks.
- The Warriors received a conditional draft pick from the San Antonio Spurs as part of the Stephen Jackson for Richard Jefferson deal today. Marcus Thompson II reports that the conditions on that pick are unknown but " there is a "90 percent chance" Golden State will get the pick."
- The Warriors acquired a second round pick from the Atlanta Hawks for cash considerations. The Hawks currently own the Suns' second rounder and their own; the Warriors will receive the lesser of the two picks.
As Thompson wrote, this now ensures that the Warriors will have a first round pick this year. But in an interview on 95.7 The Game yesterday, Warriors General Manager Larry Riley suggested that there still might be hope for keeping their own 2012 pick instead of sending it to the Utah Jazz if it falls outside the top 7 picks after the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery.
We'll address the pick. And I'm glad you brought that up because we may be able to do something about that pick. And I'm not sure what all that may be, but we have from now until this summer to do something about that. We pushed it back with good purpose - I wanted to guarantee we were going to have a draft pick last summer and it turns out we probably would have anyway. Plus, there was an opportunity to maybe move that first round pick with another player and acquire a good player. So there were reasons to do that. It's a debt that has to be paid; we'll do everything we can to delay it again if we have to. So I don't know how much of that will get done, but that is an issue as we go forward.
Even Riley seems to know that persuading Utah to further delay this pick is an unlikely outcome.
However, they now hold three draft picks in addition to that conditional pick: the Spurs' pick (currently #27), a second rounder and one of those Hawks picks. Who knows whether any of that will help the Warriors delay sending the pick to Utah - or how exactly they'd manage to negotiate that in a draft that is widely considered rich with talent - but it certainly gives the Warriors additional assets with which to try or perhaps make a move with another team to move up.