Warriors NBA Draft live blog: Dubs don’t expect Bradley Beal trade, are interested in Jalen Suggs

It’s NBA Draft day, which will likely go one of two ways for the Warriors. Either they keep their two first-round picks, slotted at No. 7 and No. 14, or they package the picks together — and perhaps toss in some current veterans on the roster — and pull off a monster trade.

For weeks, NBA insiders consistently indicated that the Dubs were keenly interested in the latter, and were perhaps even open to sending away last year’s No. 2 pick James Wiseman if it meant they could get a star in return. But now, with the 2021 NBA Draft slated for 5 p.m., the rumors have gotten eerily quiet, and the Dubs look increasingly prepared to make their selections without much fanfare.

One of the players they’ve reportedly had an eye on, Wizards guard Bradley Beal, hasn’t asked out of Washington. That makes any sort of trade formulation for Beal a waste of time and effort, which the Warriors front office seems to recognize. As was told to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, “[T]he Warriors’ decision-makers don’t expect a Beal trade — to them or anyone else — before they must make their two lottery picks.” (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.)

According to NBA insider Chad Ford, Golden State has kicked around another idea: trading up for a rookie with star potential who’d also be able to contribute right away. That player, Ford says, is Gonzaga freshman guard Jalen Suggs, who famously made a near-halfcourt buzzer-beater to defeat UCLA in the Final Four.

The issue for the Dubs is Suggs has almost no shot of falling out of the top four, and if he does, there will be a mad rush of teams who also attempt to trade up to No. 5 to pick him. Golden State has the draft capital to make a compelling offer to the Raptors, who own the No. 4 pick, but Toronto’s short- and long-term expectations are difficult to read at this point.

We’ll update this post throughout the day with more rumors and news.