This couldn’t happen could it?

From LeBron James to Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, and most recently Jimmy Butler, the Golden State Warriors have had varying levels of interest in each of these All-Star level players over the past 12 months.

Much to the frustration of many fans, the Warriors have been unable to acquire anyone of huge significance, leaving the franchise in a desperate 19-20 hole after Monday’s awful loss to a Toronto Raptors team who entered having won one of their past 17 games.

The Warriors could make a trade that will anger a lot of fans

But perhaps Golden State simply aren’t that desperate. They’ve consistently shown throughout reported trade negotiations that they’re unwilling to sacrifice too much of the future for the present, preferring to invest heavily in the young players like Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Even Stephen Curry offered a very revealing response in regard to the team’s desperation after Monday’s loss, stating that “there’s a responsibility on keeping the franchise in a good space and good spot when in it comes to where we leave this.”

Even if Curry’s comments were purely a ploy not to worsen whatever leverage Golden State has in trade negotiations, it was certainly a surprise to many analysts who couldn’t believe a superstar would speak with such acceptance of his team’s current plight.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst was one of those incredibly surprised by Curry’s response, even suggesting that the Warriors could turn their attention to selling before the February 6 deadline for financial reasons.

“It makes you wonder that the Warriors — who have been sniffing around a star player since last summer — that instead of doing that they may do the opposite and make a trade to save money because they’re not far away from the luxury tax,” Windhorst said. “It sounds like they’ve got Steph’s sign off on it.”

If Golden State fans aren’t already disappointed, frustrated and angry enough at the team’s current position, there would be a whole new level of the same emotions if the franchise essentially does a salary dump to duck the luxury tax.

Sure, sending out the expiring contract of someone like Gary Payton II may not make a huge on-court difference given he averages just 13 minutes per game, but it would be the clearest possible sign of the Warriors accepting that their season is over.

The season might already be over anyway, but that’s for fans and analysts to consider, not the franchise who should hold optimism and act accordingly so long as Curry is on the court.