Owner of $195 million website claims Warriors should trade Andrew Wiggins

The Ringer founder Bill Simmons reckons Andrew Wiggins simply hasn't performed the way many expected him to this season. So, the Golden State Warriors should explore trading the player - who has posted career lows across multiple categories this season - before the deadline.

After playing just 37 games last year and missing an extended period due to personal reasons, Wiggins has dished out subpar performances. Amid his struggles, the Golden State Warriors have posted a 9-10 record this season, sitting in the bottom half of the Western Conference.

In 18 games, Wiggins has averaged just 12.8 points, 1.2 assists and .3 steals per game, marking career lows in all categories. Moreover, he's shooting an abysmal 26.7% from beyond the arc, another career-low.

During a recent episode of his podcast, Simmons, whose website is worth $195 million, threw out a trade scenario between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors for Wiggins. He said that the Warriors should look to add size by trading Andrew Wiggins for Pascal Siakam, with Jonathan Kuminga also landing in Toronto as part of the trade. Simmons said on The Bill Simmons podcast:

“It’s just a trade that makes sense in a whole bunch of different ways.”

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Would an Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga trade for Pascal Siakam work?

For quite some time now, Pascal Siakam has landed in trade rumors, but a deal has yet to come to fruition for the Raptors. At the same time, while the Golden State Warriors have shown little indication that Andrew Wiggins will be traded, the numbers show that something needs to change.

The Warriors sit right in the middle of the pack for offensive efficiency in 15th place, while on the defensive side of the ball, they fall to 17th in team efficiency. The duo of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson has posted the sixth-worst +/- rating of any duo in the league.

While Thompson could hit the market this summer, the franchise has shown little indication that they are interested in breaking up their famed big three. As such, a trade for Andrew Wiggins, who is having a statistically down year, is the most likely to exit, but how would such a trade for Pascal Siakam be structured?

When using the ESPN NBA Trade Machine, the trade proposed by Simmons of Wiggins and Kuminga for Siakam outright wouldn't work. The trade would push the Warriors over the luxury tax threshold of 125% plus the $100,000 allowance. As such, $4.5 million would have to be removed from the Warriors' incoming value.

While they could look to ship an additional player with a contract valuation near the necessary $4.5 million, their options are slim, and a deal would require clever maneuvering. Should the Warriors continue to struggle, though, expect the front office to take action.