Kurtenbach: Who should the Warriors draft? How about no one?

While the majority of the NBA heads toward the “bubble” in Florida to finish out the regular season and play in the postseason, it appears that the Warriors will continue their tremendously long offseason.

A summer training camp looks unlikely. Free agency won’t be until late October. No one can say when the next season will start. In fact, it appears that the next big event on the Warriors’ calendar will be the NBA Draft lottery in late August, followed by the draft in October, just before free agency opens. The Warriors, who had the worst record in the NBA, share the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick and are guaranteed a top-five section in that draft.

But between now and then, there’s a whole lotta nothing on the docket for the Dubs. So it’s not surprising that the main topic of conversation around the team right now — and I doubt this changes until October — is “who should they take with their top-five pick?”

Anthony Edwards out of Georgia has emerged as many experts’ top talent in this draft. LaMelo Ball has plenty of detractors, but some super fans as well. My guy is USC big man Onyeka Okongwu, but I know the Warriors are high on Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton. The Warriors will also have to consider Dayton’s Obi Toppin and Israeli sharpshooter Deni Avdija.

The problem is that all of these players are wild cards.

Yes, of course, that’s always the case with the NBA Draft — generational talents are called that for a reason — but this draft class is being derided by those who cover such things on a daily basis as one of the worst in recent memory. It was a bad year to be a bad team.

Will there be a superstar or two from the class of 2020? Absolutely. They might come from that list of top prospects, too.

But the Warriors shouldn’t select anyone with their high selection.

Despite the team’s 2019-2020 record, Golden State rightly believes they are in the middle of a title-contention window, led by the three-man core of Stephen Curry (32 years old), Klay Thompson (30), and Draymond Green (30). How long will that window be open? Probably for less time than they think. The NBA changes so fast and, let’s be honest, all three have a ton of miles — a byproduct of five-straight trips to the NBA Finals — on their odometers. It wouldn’t be ridiculous to think that the Warriors’ original core’s best basketball is behind them.

Yes, adding a 19-year-old with possible superstardom potential down the line could help the Warriors in the long run, but what’s a 19-year-old going to do to help them in the next few years?

The Warriors should take this year’s draft pick — whether it be No. 1, No. 5, or any of the picks in between — and try to trade it in an effort to land a player who can help the team in the next few years.

Is it the best long-term move? Probably not. The 2025 Warriors might be stymied. It’s certainly not the most fun move, either.

But think about it this way: everyone loves the idea of a new car. Until the car is purchased, that is. After that, if it’s not perfect, it’s kind of a drag.

Going with an established NBA player instead of the unproven prospect is the safe move in the short-term and under the current circumstances, the Warriors should be all-in for the short term.

The Warriors have a $17.2 million traded player exception from their trade of Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies last summer. It’s a use-it-or-lose-it product that provides the luxury-tax-line straddling Warriors a one-time opportunity to add a big-money player onto the books.

Using the early draft pick could maximize the return on that trade exception. Given the league’s dramatic dip in revenue, surely there will be teams looking to move off of a well-paid player that, under typical circumstances, would not be available via trade.

The ideal candidate for the Warriors would be a player who is roughly the same age as Andrew Wiggins, 25. That’s the generation of player just behind the team’s core — an age where a player’s game should be established, but still has some room to grow.

A pick-swap and the trade exemption could net an elite defender and solid backup point guard in Boston’s Marcus Smart (26).

Or perhaps the Warriors could go with a wing — those are pretty important these days. Phoenix’s Kelly Oubre (24) will probably not be available for just the trade exception, but add in an early draft pick into the mix — even in this questionable draft — and the Warriors might be able to get something done.

There are countless names for the Warriors to go after with that exception, but to maximize it and the opportunity to improve the team for title runs in the next few seasons, the Warriors should seriously consider tossing in the draft pick into a trade. Ideally, in such a circumstance, Golden State would just move down in this year’s draft order via a pick swap, but even if they exit this year’s first-round entirely, they’ll still have an opportunity to add a young star to the mix in less than a year. In 2021, they have the rights the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first-round pick (top-three protected.)

The 2021 draft class is expected to be one of the best in the past decade.