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Warriors trade up to draft Alen Smailagic, also draft Eric Paschall

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© Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports


The Warriors got the guy they wanted from the outset. The team traded up for the 39th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft according to Shams Charania with the New Orleans Pelicans. This came after the team moved up earlier in the day by securing the 41st pick from the Atlanta Hawks. The Warriors traded their final pick to the Utah Jazz.

The three trades featured three years of second-round picks

For a while after the trade it was unclear what the Warriors had given up to select Smailagic, and there was some initial confusion at the 41st and 58th picks discernibly not being included. According to Mark Medina, the Warriors traded a pair of future second-round draft picks in 2021 and 2023 to acquire the 39th overall pick, along with a currently unspecified amount of cash.

The 41st pick was reportedly acquired for $1.3 million in cash and a 2024 second-round pick, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, and the final pick was sent to the Utah Jazz, for a return that appears to solely be for cash, according to Wojnarowski:

Warriors’ front office is smiling for Smailagic

It was reported by Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle that the Warriors were seeking to draft Alen Smailagic, a player they’d had their eye on all season with the Santa Cruz Warriors, and the Warriors did that with the 39th overall pick.

Here’s what Smailagic looked like in his highest scoring performance of the season:

Smailagic, a 19-year-old, 6’10” power forward was drafted fourth overall by the Santa Cruz Warriors in last year’s G-League draft in a trade (purportedly on the condition he’d play for the G-League squad immediately) impressed the Warriors (he averaged 9.1 points and 4 rebounds per game) and put up a 25-point game against the South Bay Lakers, shown above.

While the team is high on him, it is not expected that he will contribute right away, perhaps why the team traded up while keeping the 41st overall pick which it acquired earlier in the day. He may spend much of the year, if not all of it, back in Santa Cruz.

Some national championship history between the Warriors’ picks

With that 41st overall pick, the team drafted Eric Paschall, a senior wing from Villanova University. Paschall averaged 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his senior season. He was an average shooter at 44.7 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from 3-point range, but won the 2018 NCAA National Championship with Villanova in his junior year… against the Warriors’ first-round draft pick Jordan Poole, who was a freshman at the time.

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