The NBA trade rumors have been vast the past couple of weeks, and almost every team has been involved in at least one or two of them. One team you wouldn't expect to be involved in trade rumors considering how dominant they have been is the Golden State Warriors, but even with their 26-1 record they may still have room for improvement. The Warriors are reportedly not thrilled with the way their bench has been scoring this season, so they may look to upgrade the stretch four position by potentially moving on from Marreese Speights, according to Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area.
Speights was a huge part of the Warriors' success last season although he didn't get much credit as he was the first big man off the bench and finished third on the team with his 19.6 PER behind just Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Speights was the Warriors go-to scorer off the bench, and he often delivered last season as he averaged 10.4 points per game, but so far this season he hasn't provided much.
Speights has appeared in 23 of the Warriors 27 games, but he is averaging just 9.8 minutes and his scoring is down to five points per game, his shooting percentage is down to 35 percent from 47 percent last year and his PER is all the way down to 8.7. Interim head coach Luke Walton has blamed Speights' inconsistent playing time for his poor performance, but it is really the other way around. Speights has been passed on the depth chart by Festus Ezeli, and that leaves a void for Golden State because Ezeli isn't the true scorer Speights is when he is at his best.
For now, the Warriors will likely stick with Speights and hope he can regain last year's form, but if his play doesn't pick up they might be inclined to make a move. Golden State likely won't be looking for any huge move, but Speights might garner some interest considering he has an expiring contract and he is just 28 years old.
As strange as it is to say for a team that averages 116 points per game, they sometimes struggle to score when Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green are on the bench, which made Speights invaluable last season. With Speights not giving them much of anything this season, it makes sense that they might look for a replacement for him in a big man who can shoot.
