How this Trade Impacts Golden State Warriors
It is hard to envision a scenario in which the Golden State Warriors break up the Splash Brothers duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. It is even harder to imagine it being done to bring in another non-shooter such as Ben Simmons, who is the souped-up, athletic version of Draymond Green.
Replacing the floor-spacing of Thompson would be virtually impossible. There are very few, if any, players capable of doing what he is when shooting the ball. Despite the injuries, his shooting stroke should still be there. But, there are some concerns about whether or not he will be the same level of defender when he comes back.
Suffering two serious lower-body injuries is a lot for someone to come back from. His mobility may be compromised, which would lessen the impact that he would have on the team defensively.
From that perspective, Simmons would represent an upgrade. He and Green would provide a crazy amount of playmaking and defensive versatility if paired together, as they could lock down the two best offensive players on the opposing team regardless of position.
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Fitting two non-shooters in a lineup would be extremely difficult, but anything is possible when arguably the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA is part of that lineup in Curry. Finding enough floor spacing elsewhere in the starting lineup would be important to making this work.
Ultimately, it seems unlikely that the Warriors would trade Thompson straight-up for Ben Simmons, but there would be positives to making such a swap. How would this deal look from the Philadelphia 76ers’ perspective?
