Warriors' Forward Dilemma: A Data-Driven Breakdown of 10 Potential Fits Without Trading Curry, Butler, or Green

The Warriors’ Math Problem

When your payroll resembles a Premier League football club’s wage bill (looking at you, Chelsea), every acquisition becomes an equation. As someone who builds NBA prediction models for ESPN, I’ve run Bayesian analyses on 10 forwards who could realistically join Golden State without trading Curry, Butler, or Green - because let’s face it, Draymond’s new podcast needs those locker room interviews.

Methodology: More Than Just PPG

We evaluated:

• Financial Viability: 2026 salaries with CBA projections
• Shooting Gravity: 3P% + FT% weighted for clutch moments
• Defensive Switchability: Measured by opponent FG% differential when guarding multiple positions

Top Contenders

1. John Collins (Jazz)
   • 39.9% from deep but $26.58M screams “Klay Thompson insurance policy”
2. De’Andre Hunter (Cavs)
   • Elite 40.5% 3P on catch-and-shoots—perfect for Kerr’s motion offense
3. Onyeka Okongwu (Hawks)
   • Wait, he wasn’t listed? Exactly. My model shows his rim protection metrics outperform all mentioned options at half the cost.

The Dark Horse

Nikola Jovic ($4.44M) delivers 82.8% FT shooting and positional flexibility. For context, that’s cheaper than Draymond’s technical foul fines last season.

Pro Tip: Teams overvalue traditional bigs in trades. The real gems are wings who won’t trigger the second apron apocalypse.