If the Golden State Warriors are going to go out in the Dwight Howard sweepstakes, they’re going to go out swinging.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein, the Warriors are currently ‘aggressively’ shopping multiple contracts and players in pursuit of Howard.
"The Golden State Warriors, increasingly convinced they have a legitimate shot at winning the Dwight Howard sweepstakes, have begun aggressively attempting to trade away players to clear the requisite salary-cap space to sign the All-Star center, according to sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking."
While the Warriors do have a handful of expiring deals, that’s all they are – expiring deals. The talent coming with those deals is less than marginal so it’s expected that at least some of the Warriors young talent, outside of Stephen Curry would be needed to encourage any potential moves.
It’s a risky proposition for the Warriors, but one they obviously wouldn’t pull a trigger on unless they were completely certain Howard would sign on the dotted line. That said – I’m sure some of the players who could be potentially moved in a deal, clearing the way for Howard to Oakland wont be exactly thrilled knowing they were deemed expendable.
It’s extremely unlikely that Howard would pick Golden State, but the Warriors seem more confident in the idea than ever. I guess we’ll find out just how confident in the next few days, if not sooner.