Over the past couple years many have thought that the Golden State Warriors might be one deal away from truly competing for a championship. It was rumored during this past summer that the team was considering dealing Klay Thompson and other pieces to acquire Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. According to reports, the team did not want to part with Thompson and refused to include him in any deal for Love, who ended up being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

One of the pieces that was rumored to be included in that package for Love was power forward David Lee, who has been an efficient player for the team during his four seasons in the Bay Area. Lee is the power forward version of the Timberwolves’ Nikola Pekovic, an extremely talented and skilled scorer in the post, but one who offers limited rim protection and is frequently targeted by many teams on the defensive side of the floor.

By all accounts, Lee seems to be very well liked by his teammates and his ability to step back and hit a mid-range jumper once in a while gives the Warriors the necessary spacing they love, which is another plus. But the team took a step back last year when they suffered a first-round exit following a confusing 2013-14 campaign which eventually led to head coach Mark Jackson being let go by the organization at the end of the season.

With Steve Kerr taking over head coaching duties, Lee could definitely flourish in his many offensive schemes. At the same time, the new trend in the NBA is the introduction of more “small-ball” lineups which offer speed and shooting while sacrificing rebounding and defense in the post. Many forget that when the Warriors were in a midst of a hard-fought second-round series against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Playoffs, they performed at their best with Harrison Barnes in the lineup instead of Lee. Barnes, who is still with the Warriors, is definitely much quicker and a much more dangerous threat from outside and from the mid-range area.

If the Warriors are feeling confident in their small-ball lineups and have confidence that Barnes will have a bounce-back year under a new coach, they should definitely strongly consider trading Lee.

For whatever reason, they have played fine without Lee in the lineup in the past, and sometimes better because they are allowed to play to their strengths of shooting from outside which also helps open up lanes for drives to the basket.

One trade that would make sense would be to trade Lee to the Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Martin. While Lee’s salary is considerably greater than what Martin makes per year, they could probably convince the Wolves to throw in Chase Budinger, who the team is rumored to be shopping, to go along with the expiring contract of JJ Barea. The Warriors might have to throw a prospect or pick the Wolves’ way, but this is a semi-conceivable idea given that the Wolves absolutely loved having a post punch of Love and Pekovic last season. Lee is a lesser version of Love in that he does not possess three-point range, but his game is very similar to Love’s and he could perform very well with the Wolves.

For Golden State, they would add depth to their bench, and that’s something they have lacked since energetic sixth man Jarrett Jack left them in the 2013 offseason.

Of course, this is a Bill Simmons-esque trade idea, but the basic premise of it is the Warriors swapping Lee for bench depth and electing to go small-ball with Barnes at the power forward position. Given they have a strong, physical center in Andrew Bogut, I do not believe they would be perceived as too soft in the post should they decide to go with this lineup.

The Spurs showed last season that having many weapons off the bench is crucial for a run at the championship. If they can find the right players that could strengthen their bench, trading Lee might be the move that separates the Warriors from being a best-case scenario second-round exit to a legitimate threat to potentially make the Conference Finals this year.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.