NBA Trade News 2013: Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson on the Trading Block Soon

Incoming third year shooting guard Klay Thompson might be on the trading block sooner than everybody as the Golden State Warriors look to land another A-list superstar for the coming season.

Thompson is considered by many coaches and basketball followers as one of the brightest young players in the league, but ESPN insider writer Joe Kaiser believes the sweet shooting guard could end up playing for another team at some point over the next two seasons.

At 23-years old, the 6-foot-7, 205-pound Thompson has a lot of time to grow and reach his full potential as a basketball player. Taken 11^th overall in the 2011 Draft, Thompson immediately made an impact in his first season by averaging 12.5 points and 2.4 rebounds.

He improved up his production in his second year as he averaged 16.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists during the 2012-2013 regular season. Even more, Thompson performed terrific in his first postseason appearance averaging 15.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

Entering his third season in the league, Thompson has a chance to pad up his production and reach All-Star level especially after the Warriors made a number of significant free-agent signings - including the acquisition of Andre Iguodala - this offseason.

Unfortunately for Thompson, his rapid development as a player will also make him too expensive for the Warriors to retain beyond his rookie contract. With the Warriors already committed to pay several long-term multimillion deals (Iguodala, Stephen Curry and David Lee), the ballclub found themselves in odd financial position to offer Thompson a competitive paycheck.

Thompson, whose rookie deal will expire at the end of the 2014-2015 season, is sure to draw great offers from several teams, some of them might be too much for the Warriors to match.

To avoid seeing their prized shooting guard walking away without compensation, the Warriors might look into the possibility of using him as a trade chip to land another star or a lottery draft pick.

Next summer's draft will feature one of the most talented pool of youngsters with Andrew Wiggins and Jabbari Parker leading the draft class. Moreover, the 2014 Free-Agency class will be loaded with talents as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Paul George and other young stars are expected to hit the market once again.

Trading Thompson won't be a shocker anymore after the Warriors tried a couple of times (Trade for James Harden and Trade for Dwight Howard) to shop the shooting guard. In the end, it needs for the Warriors to make a great deal of sacrifice to keep them in contention for a title beyond next season.