The 2020 NBA Draft will likely take place at some point this year, but that's about as specific as we can get with all the uncertainty stemming from the coronavirus sports hiatus.
According to multiple league sources The Chronicle contacted in the past few days, the Warriors -- contrary to what mock drafts might suggest -- aren't believed to be high on two of the three players being mentioned as possibilities at the No. 1 pick: former Memphis center James Wiseman and point guard LaMelo Ball, who last played for the Illawarra Hawks of Australia's National Basketball League. As one source put it, "I think they'd only take one of those two if they were trading down in the draft and taking them for another team."
The Warriors could secure a top-three pick in the draft following a season in which they made the NBA Finals. Not only that, but with the return of a healthy Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors should be title contenders once again next season.
That leaves them in an odd spot for a team selecting that highly -- do they draft to win now or draft for the future? Making matters more murky is the fact that there is no consensus franchise-changing player at the top of the 2020 draft, like we saw last year with Zion Williamson. In our mock drafts here at CBS Sports, college basketball insider Gary Parrish has guard LaMelo Ball going No. 1, while Kyle Boone has center James Wiseman in the top spot. However, the Warriors don't seem too interested in Ball or Wiseman, according to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle:
The Warriors trading their pick makes sense given their current situation, but they would need to find the right package. They also might choose to keep the pick if Georgia guard Anthony Edwards or Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Deni Avdija is still on the board, as Letourneau reports that those could be the Warriors' top two targets. Edwards is currently ranked No. 2 on CBS Sports' prospect big board, with Avdija at No. 7.