Warriors' Brandin Podziemski shows rockets, the rest of NBA that sometimes the best trade is one that they don't do

Jimmy Butler was so good for the Golden State Warriors that it is easy to forget that he was not her first choice for a superstar acquisition. No, we don't talk about her simultaneous persecution of Kevin Durant. Choose the clock back to summer. The Warriors had just been removed by the Sacramento Kings in game No. 9 against No. 10. They were then determined to take a new star in the 2024-25 season, and while they swang and missed a pursuit of Paul George, they finally spent most of the low season to relieve Lauri's utah jazz.

It is unclear what exactly was offered before Markkanen has negotiated and expanded his contract with jazz. Since this is Danny Aing, which we are talking about here, we can certainly assume that several picks were on the table in the first round. But a climbing point in these negotiations was a promising rookie that only started 28 games at that time. The jazz supposedly wanted Brandin Podziemski. The Warriors, who viewed Podziemski as a future all-star and placed his cheap, rookie scale contract, ultimately decided not to act. Markkanes expanded. No deal was made.

A few months forward quickly. The warriors were around 500 around the trading period. They desperately wanted to land desperately what they could find. Podziemski now struggled to fight a lot in the first few months of the season. At this stage it would have been fair to question the decision of the Golden State not to urge the chips for marks.

We all know how that played. The Warriors got Butler for a bargain. Podziemski came back on the right track. And on Monday they won the Warriors a critical game 4 against the Houston Rockets by combining 109 points for 53 by Golden State in one night in which Stephen Curry's shots were not fell. They now lead the rockets 3-1, when a slightly worse night of both had bound the series and handed over to the home square to Houston.

Now we cannot say for sure what Markkanen would have been for the warriors. We cannot promise that Golden State Butler would not have followed with Markkanen in the team, even though the warriors, in the face of the exorbitant price that Utah was apparently exhausted, may not have regarded it as possible or considered desirable in order to make another big swing.

At least Markkanen's age and CAP number would have made him far more expensive than butler, and including Podziemski in the deal, the Golden State would have robbed someone who has absolutely become essential for its immediate success. While Markkanen's youth would have been important across the board, he is not already defensive to the player Butler, and he could not generate the marginal pressure or free throws for the warriors who does butler every evening. If they had completed the Markkanen deal, the warriors would probably be worse today and they would probably have fewer youth and fewer design goods to wear them until tomorrow.

The Warriors were only patient enough to set up for what now looks like a promising playoff run. The lesson here is that sometimes the best trade you don't do. This is a lesson that can currently apply to many teams, but it is one that should be taken into account by Golden State's first round opponent: The Rockets.

This is Houston's first trip back to the Playoffs since 2020. We are about to enter a low season in which Kevin Durant is available and Giannis Antetocounmpo could be plausibly available. The final number will ultimately be larger. It's always. Someone is always upset about how his post -season went. In one or two months, the rockets will be like a child in a confectionery shop. You can get practically everyone.

But what the warriors are showing them is how important it is to wait for the right trade instead of jumping on the first big one that is available. Yes, the semi -judicial crime was mostly a chaos in this series. This does not automatically mean that you should break the bank to act for a future 37-year-old Durant. This is the first run of a young squad by the Playoff Gauntlet. You don't even know what you have.

However, you have an idea. They avoided great trade in the season this year, precisely because their confidence in the current group and their desire to see how they deal exactly. The Warriors believed in Podziemski strong enough to carry out the speed currents. It won them on Monday game 4 and could win this series. Hopefully the rockets have sufficient determination to maintain a similar belief in their own young people. Losses like this can shake the determination of the strongest front offices, but if the rockets want to compete with the Warriors across the board, their first step should be to emulate the reluctance that they have brought here.