Warriors reportedly discussing James Wiseman with Spurs and Blazers

Shortly after news broke that the Golden State Warriors were in mild discussions with the Detroit Pistons over a trade that would swap 2020 first-round picks James Wiseman and Saddiq Bey, two more teams entered the mix.

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, the Warriors are also in discussions with the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs.

It’s not yet known what the returns might be, but it could look pretty different for the two teams. Because the Spurs have enough cap space to absorb Wiseman’s deal, they don’t need to match salaries. The Dubs could trade Wiseman to San Antonio without bringing another player back.

With Portland, however, the Warriors would need to match salaries, which means it wouldn’t be a salary dump. The Dubs would need to get something enticing back from Portland since they wouldn’t be saving money.

And yes, since I know you’re all asking it: a Wiseman swap for Gary Payton II would work financially.

San Antonio and Portland’s interest in Wiseman is also coming from different places. The Spurs are one of the worst teams in the NBA, and headed for the lottery. Adding Wiseman would either be about grabbing a lottery ticket and seeing what he can do for the next 110 games before his free agency, or about seeing if they can get something else from the Warriors in exchange for taking the former No. 2 pick’s contract.

The Blazers are in the thick of the playoff and play-in standings battle, just one game behind the Warriors after beating them last night. Wiseman would likely provide depth at the center position behind Jusuf Nurkić, a high-quality starter who has struggled with injuries.

We’ll find out soon enough if anything happens.