With the loss of Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets coupled with injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors are 4-19 and will almost certainly have a high draft pick in 2020. This could allow the Warriors to reload on the fly and start a new trend of "a gap year."
"The people I talk to around the league are really worried they are going to trade that first-round pick, the 2020 pick, because if they load up with an All-Star-type player with that pick, they are terrified," Tom Haberstroh said during the Warriors-Hornets telecast on Wednesday. "Or if they land a Luka Doncic in the draft, they're terrified. So that 2020 pick, adding to the group they have established here with [Eric] Paschall stepping in right away, man, I think every team is going to try to do a gap year."
The Warriors will also have a taxpayer exception worth around $17 million and a taxpayer mid-level exception.