Warriors, Jazz Working On Draft Pick Trade

MONDAY, 3:25pm: The trade discussions between the two teams don't include a player, Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group confirms (via Twitter).

SATURDAY, 3:24pm: The Warriors are seeking a deal that would wipe out any possibility of having to cede their first-round pick to the Jazz, ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports. Currently, Golden State is in line to pick seventh, but the selection goes to Utah if Wednesday's draft lottery bumps the pick down to No. 8 or lower. Stein says the Warriors would like to get the deal done before Wednesday, but are reluctant to trade players, offering cash and future draft considerations instead.

The Warriors originally traded the pick, with protection, to the Nets for Marcus Williams in 2008. The Nets sent their shot at the pick to the Jazz in the Deron Williams trade last year. As it stands now, even if the Jazz misses out on the pick this year, Utah would get Golden State's first-round pick in 2013 or 2014 if the Warriors don't have continued lottery luck.

Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob first expressed an interest in March about making sure that pick didn't go to the Jazz, and we heard at the same time that talks surrounding that pick had been going on for months. That was long before the season ended and the Warriors won a tiebreaker for the seventh slot in the lottery, meaning there's just a 28 percent chance the Jazz gets the draft choice this year. Still, one source tells Stein a deal is likely to go through before Wednesday, and one reason is because the Warriors would have a hard time trading for another pick in the top 10 if they were to lose their own selection, Stein says.

Barring a trade, the only way the Warriors lose this year's first-rounder is if they miss out on one of the top three picks and one of the seven teams slotted behind them in the lottery — the Raptors, Pistons, Hornets, Blazers, Bucks, Suns and Rockets — wins one of the top three picks instead. It seems like the Warriors are too eager to prevent a situation that probably wouldn't happen. The Warriors will have at least one first-round pick no matter what happens in the lottery, since they have the rights to San Antonio's choice at No. 30.

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