Andre Iguodala discounting himself. Shaun Livingston, weary of itinerant life, signing a friendly contract because most of the NBA didn’t trust his body. Draymond Green, the last of their three picks in the 2012 draft, becoming an All-NBA player.

Persuading four-time scoring champ Kevin Durant to join a roster that had in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the most explosive backcourt in NBA history.

The Warriors and many of their fans have come to realize that their five-year run of supremacy was as at least as much luck and exquisite timing as it was ingenuity and financial sorcery. What they had was unique. It is over. Can’t be recreated. They know it, so they won’t even try.

So, they’re attempting their first rebuild. Phase I was the 2019 draft, which delivered three players with the goods to have long careers in the league. Phase II began on Dec. 15, when trade restrictions were lifted, and ends at with the noon Thursday NBA Trade Deadline.

Though league sources indicate that the Warriors have engaged in discussions with multiple teams, they are not operating out of desperation. They know what they want, and they’ll hang up in a heartbeat if it’s not offered.

The emphasis is on two-way wings and big men capable of adequately flexing between center and power forward. Position is secondary, but a point guard would have to be special. The Warriors chose Patrick McCaw, and then Jacob Evans III, in search of the two-way wing. They chose Jordan Bell hoping that he could be the flexible big man.

The search continues.

So, what are their trade-deadline priorities? By all accounts, they have three, which we will list in order:

1) Draft compensation

Few things beyond signing a superstar in free agency are more appealing to an NBA front office. For Warriors CEO Joe Lacob, president/general manager Bob Myers and his cabinet of lieutenants, the value of draft picks are a must. Unless a team is pleading to be exploited in a player-for-player swap, the Warriors will make no deal that doesn’t bring them draft picks.

That’s how Celtics president Danny Ainge rebuilt his team. Thunder vice president Sam Presti turned Paul George and Russell Westbrook into eight future draft picks – along with at least one player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, looking like a long-term keeper. Seven of those picks are confirmed to be in the first round.

When the Warriors traded Willie Cauley-Stein last month, it was partly to shed his 2020-21 contract but also to gain a second-round pick this June.

If they trade Alec Burks or Glenn Robinson III – or both – they want at least one draft pick in return. Think second round.

To move D’Angelo Russell, the Warriors want a player and draft picks. As much as the Timberwolves like D-Lo, he’s not going to Minnesota without attractive future assets coming back. If Andrew Wiggins is the key to the deal, the Warriors know they can do better.

The Warriors have two picks in June, and then only one second-round pick (2022) between this summer and 2027. They’re eager to add picks for the 2021 draft, which is expected to be deeper than any in recent years.

Yet they aren’t necessarily committed to keeping any picks they acquire. They might, but they also could use them as bait in a deal for an NBA player they really like.

2) Star potential

If the Warriors agree to a trade that brings a young NBA player in return, the only way he sticks around is if he has the goods to make a significant impact.

One example: Mitchell Robinson. The Knicks are interested in Russell, but Robinson might be the only player on their roster that excites the Warriors. The 7-foot center, a second-round pick (No. 36 overall) in 2018, is only 21 and already is one of New York’s most valuable assets.

Another example: The Heat’s 22-year-old center Bam Adebayo. No chance of getting him. At all.

But Robinson and Adebayo (a first-round pick, No. 14 overall, in 2017) fit the profile.

The Timberwolves don’t have such a player. Well, they do. But we’re nowhere near the day they trade Karl-Anthony Towns to the Warriors.

3) Tax-bill relief

The Warriors are well aware of their bottom line, but they don’t dwell on it, as some teams seem to do. With Chase Center printing money nearly as fast as Amazon, they’re not going to let a few million keep them from trying to get back to the top.

They like to aim high, really high, which generally requires enough cap space to make a serious pitch to an elite player.

Golden State being hard-capped limits their ability to add salary. They basically can’t, even after the Cauley-Stein trade reduced to 13 the number of players on standard NBA contracts and also dropped them from about $6 million over the tax threshold to about $4.5 million over. As much as they’d like to convert Marquese Chriss, and maybe Ky Bowman, from two-way deals to standard deals, they can’t unless they trim a couple of standard contracts.

[RELATED: What Warriors could receive in return by trading their assets]

That’s where Burks and Robinson come in. If the Warriors trade them for draft picks, the payroll drops and so does the tax bill. Even if Chriss and Bowman fill those vacancies.

The Warriors have been living in the luxury tax for three of the last four seasons, and they’re facing the dreaded repeater tax this season. Their actual tax bill will shrink, however, mostly because Durant and Iguodala are off the books and the team stretched Livingston’s $2 million guarantee over three seasons.

Which brings us back to draft picks, generally the smallest contracts on the roster. The more picks they have that can stick, the easier it is on the payroll.

If they add a few picks and connect on two or three – and possibly add another elite free agent – the Warriors can be contenders beyond the primes of core players Curry, Green and Thompson.

Programming Note: The "2020 NBA Trade Deadline Show" is coming your way this Thursday at 11:30am on the MyTeams app and on NBCSportsBayArea.com! Our NBA Insiders will analyze all of the news and rumors that could impact the Warriors heading into the Noon deadline. Don’t miss it!