The Warriors possess the No. 11 pick in this month’s NBA draft.
Who they pick with their highest selection since 2021 could hold the cards to not only the final years of Steph Curry’s career but also the future direction of the franchise.
This week, we are profiling five possible prospects GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. could target.
Age: 21
Position: Guard
Height/weight: 6-foot-5 / 185 pounds
School: Baylor
As the Warriors seek to bridge the end of Curry’s career with the franchise’s next era, Carr offers an intriguing combination of upside with a built-in skill set that could contribute to winning right away.
A high-flying, slashing wing, Carr would give the Warriors the kind of athleticism they haven’t had in a prospect since … Jonathan Kuminga?
There’s reason to believe taking a flyer on a high-upside scorer and potential impact defender such as Carr will go better this time around. For one, the Warriors are in a different place — reevaluating everything from their offensive system to their championship expectations.
Carr is also ready to contribute right away with a lethal 3-point shot and a quick, lanky frame that should make him a pest on the perimeter. He adds 8 inches with a wingspan that measured a tick over 7 feet at the NBA combine, where he also showed out with 30 points on six 3-pointers in a scrimmage and a 42.5-inch vertical leap — the third highest of any prospect.
The last time the Warriors held the No. 11 pick, it gave them Klay Thompson, and Carr shares some similarities shooting at a 37.4% clip from beyond the perimeter at Baylor while setting up many of those shots by running around screens off the ball.
Like the two Splash Brothers, Carr also has NBA bloodlines through his father, Chris Carr, who played six seasons and passed down the traits that earned him an invite to the 1997 dunk contest.
With three years of college experience, Carr is only 2 years younger than Kuminga, for comparison’s sake. That makes him one of the older players likely to go in the lottery.
It also raises questions about how much there is left for him to develop physically.
While his length gives him the upside to be an elite defender, his lean stature means he could also get pushed around by a league of players almost universally larger than him. There wasn’t a single impact player lighter than 185 pounds this season — just 12 in total around the NBA.
Carr is also relatively raw for a three-year college player: He averaged 1.4 points in 14 games as a freshman at Tennessee and was limited to four games the following season after fracturing his thumb before transferring to Baylor.
Carr has the skills to contribute as a rookie and the potential to grow into a prototypical 3-and-D player. If he bulks up and improves his handle, he could become even more than that.
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