GM Dunleavy Says Warriors Tried to Trade Up in NBA Draft for Final Four Standout originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Golden State Warriors aren’t planning for the future, but rather are living in the now as they focus their sights exclusively on players who can help them realize dreams of one last championship run with the current core of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler.
The Warriors entered the NBA draft on Wednesday, June 25, without a first-round pick. However, general manager Mike Dunleavy told Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard on Friday the team identified a first-round prospect it believed could contribute to winning in his rookie year.
As such, Golden State attempted to trade up for that player, but to no avail.
“There was a player that we liked in the middle of the first round that we made some offers to try and move up to get,” Dunleavy told Kawakami. “I think the thought was [he is] a guy that probably could’ve helped us this year coming up, and that’s pretty rare coming in the draft. It wasn’t a wide range of players. It was one guy. We tried to get in for it — didn’t work out.”
Kawakami did some digging and came to the conclusion that the player in question is former Florida guard and national champion Walter Clayton Jr.
“[Clayton] won Final Four Most Outstanding Player earlier this year and ended up going 18th to Utah,” Kawakami continued. “It doesn’t sound like the Warriors got too close to a deal, even as Clayton fell a little lower than expected. It’s tougher to move into the first round these days than it used to be and it’s likely that it would’ve either hard-capped the Warriors at the second apron or cost a future first-round pick that might be pretty important for the Warriors to keep.”
The Warriors walked away from the draft having added two second-round picks to the organization — forward Alex Toohey out of the Australian National Basketball League (No. 52 overall) and guard Will Richard out of Florida (No. 56 overall).
“Toohey’s shooting is still a work in progress after he hit 31% in the Australian NBL last season, but his defensive activity stood out in steal and block rates,” Kevin Pelton of ESPN wrote Thursday, when he gave Golden State’s draft a “B” grade. “I’ve long liked Richard, who ranked in the top 30 of my projections because of his high 2-point percentage.”
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.