It is extremely rare to see the Golden State Warriors anywhere remotely close to the lottery, as they have not picked in the top-fourteen since selecting Harrison Barnes in 2012. To say that the Warrior’s championship window is closed is foolish, as this team still possesses three star guards and a perennial Defensive Player of the Year contender.
The 2019-2020 season is going to go down as a horrible one for the Warriors, but they will most certainly be back to competing in the West in 2020-2021. Thus, Golden State in this scenario is in the ultra-rare situation of picking a positional need in the top-three.
Keeping in line with the top high school players from the high school graduating class of 2019, Isaiah Stewart is the third player taken off the board in the 2020 NBA Draft. Stewart is a back-to-the-bucket center who can protect the paint and rebound at an extremely high level.
The Warriors have never had a truly elite rim-running center for Stephen Curry to run the pick-and-roll with, and Isaiah Stewart could be that player. His offensive game is not yet developed, but hopefully he can develop this in his freshman season at Washington.
If the Warriors were to land a top-three selection in this year’s draft, it would certainly be interesting to see if they would keep the pick or trade it away for someone who could help them win now. However, assuming that they would keep the pick, going with a rim runner and inside presence is probably the way to go.