Your Warriors free agent wish list?
Your Warriors free agent wish list?
Taking a short break from the draft to stress about free agency
Free agency is near, so free agency voting is also near
Last year I began a tradition of having us vote on which free agents we wanted to see signed.
Last year’s 2023 Free Agency Tricider
Free Agency Tracker highlighting our favorites (as well as those of Perks and Anthony Slater).
This article is a heads-up to start thinking about free agency.
About a week before free agency (in about two weeks), I will open up a new Tricider for us to nominate our favorites and vote on the whole field.
Things will get very hectic starting the week of June 25. The NBA Draft is June 26-27 and then the Free Agency Moratorium starts June 30. This is supposed to be quiet time but in fact all the free agent signings get announced then. Then we go straight into Summer League and the Olympics. HECTIC.
2024 Key Dates in NBA Free Agency
Day After Last Game of NBA Finals: Each NBA team may begin negotiating with upcoming free agents who finished the just-completed season on its roster.
June 30: Each NBA team may begin negotiating with all other upcoming free agents (beginning at 6 p.m. ET).
July 6: Each NBA team may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET).
Warriors Roster as of today
The following players are under contract:
PG. Stephen Curry / Chris Paul / Brandin Podziemski
SG. Moses Moody
SF. Andrew Wiggins / Jonathan Kuminga / Gui Santos
PF. Draymond Green / Gary Payton II (player option)
C. Trayce Jackson-Davis / Kevon Looney
Yes, I know positions are an illusion, but this is just for organization. That makes 11 players for a 15 person roster. 1 spot is for the draft pick. GSW likes to leave the 15th spot open as long as possible. So there are at least 2 spots for free agency signings (not accounting for trades of course).
What can GSW pay for a free agent?
The Warriors are over the second-apron and thus cannot sign a free agent except at a minimum contract, around $1.1M for a rookie, rising up to about $3.3M for a 10 year veteran.
Context: In 2023-24, GSW signed Dario Saric and Cory Joseph for the minimum. In 22-23, GSW signed JaMychal Green. In 21-22, GSW signed Otto Porter Jr, Nemanja Bjelica and Gary Payton II for minimum deals, which were tremendous bargains that helped get GSW the championship. (They also had Damion Lee and Juan Toscano-Anderson on minimums. That was a fun team.)
If the Warriors are able get under the second apron (I believe waiving Chris Paul’s contract would do this), then they would be able to use the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to sign one or more free agents for a combined total of ~$5.2M.
Context: In 2022-23, GSW signed Donte DiVincenzo for the MLE at $4.5M.
UFA = unrestricted free agent
RFA = restricted so current team can match if team makes a qualifying offer
Player = Player can opt into another year
Club = Team can opt into another year
So… you’re looking for a UFA who would accept a contract of $5.2M or less (MLE) or a minimum (for most of these guys it’s $2M - $3M).
Outside writers suggest free agent targets
Andy Bailey, Bleacher Report
Potential Spending Power: Taxpayer's Mid-Level ($5.2 million)
Realistic: Alec Burks
If the Golden State Warriors can get out of the luxury tax (and they'll reportedly try to do just that), they could have a bit more spending power than the number listed above.
But even if they can't, former Warrior Alec Burks would be a decent option as a veteran wing who might sign for less than the taxpayer's mid-level.
He couldn't find a spot in Tom Thibodeau's ultra-tight New York Knicks rotation, but over the three seasons prior to this one, his teams were plus-2.7 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor and minus-4.2 when he was off.
David Rooney, ClutchPoints
3. Monte Morris, Minnesota Timberwolves
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Golden State shouldn't soon forget how helpful it can be having a legitimate lead guard operating in relief of Curry, though. That's how Monte Morris and his Point God-esque ball control (career 3.8 assists against 0.8 turnovers) could wind up on the Warriors' radar.
While he's too small to play in dual-point-guard lineups (6'2", 183 lbs), he'd have the kind of salary in which Golden State wouldn't be bothered by having him in a low-mileage reserve role. Caretaking the offense during non-Curry minutes is a quietly significant role and one the Warriors could have a chance to fill for cheap.
2. Cedi Osman, San Antonio Spurs
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His minutes have been on a steady five-year decline, bottoming out at 17.6 in 2023-24 (the fewest he'd logged since his rookie season). He is limited enough on defense that free-agent shoppers might struggle to see him playing any more with them.
So, maybe he'd be open to signing for something close to the minimum. One-way veteran role players are seldom prioritized on the open market, and it's tough to gauge the Spurs' interest in a new deal when they have so many other young wings in need of floor time.
1. Goga Bitadze, Orlando Magic
Next season's path out of the Western Conference is not only loaded, it's crowded by some massive frontcourts. If the Warriors seek out external upgrades this summer, it wouldn't at all surprise to see them go after more size.
Goga Bitadze—all 6'11" and 250 pounds of him—provides exactly that. And that's not at all he brings.
He does what you want a traditional center to do: protect the paint, clean the glass and free up perimeter scorers with solid screens. Orlando's crowded center rotation sometimes restricted him to the sideline, but when his number was called, he almost always helped. His per-36-minutes averages of 11.7 points (on a career-high 60.3 percent shooting), 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.7 blocks, per Basketball-Reference, speak to both his interior activity and solid feel for the game.
The hope is Bitadze's limited floor time (15.4 minutes) held down his numbers enough for front offices to overlook him, or at least not make him a priority target. If he could be had on a clearance contract, he could become a rotation regular on next season's Warriors.
Gerald Bourget, GoPHNX.com
This write-up is for PHX, another over-second-apron team, but the analysis work for GSW minimum targets.
Spencer Dinwiddie
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One would imagine his recent struggles would lower his value, but whether it’s all the way to the vet minimum remains to be seen. Technically speaking, Dinwiddie’s $1.5 million that he earned with the Lakers was less than the minimum, but that only happened because he still got paid the final year of his three-year, $54 million contract leading up to his buyout with the Nets.
Dinwiddie is reportedly interested in staying in Los Angeles, but we’ll see if the Lakers feel the same way.
Lonnie Walker IV
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Averaging 9.7 points in just 17.4 minutes per game while shooting 38.4 percent from deep, one would imagine Walker will get more than the vet minimum from somebody. But that appeared to be the case last season too, when Walker put up a career-high 11.7 points per game for the Lakers, but he wound up settling for a vet minimum deal with the Nets instead.
The 6-foot-4 off-guard wouldn’t address a position of need, and he doesn’t really have a trademark skill. With that being said, he’s a decent enough scorer and is still only 25 years old, which means he might be worth a vet minimum swing if his market drops again. Of course, if it’s rotation minutes he’s after, maybe Phoenix isn’t the ideal landing spot.
Doug McDermott
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With that being said, adding McDermott to the end-of-bench rotation wouldn’t hurt, especially on a vet minimum. You can never have too much shooting, and at 6-foot-6, he’d actually provide some depth on the wing. He may have struggled in his short stint back with the Pacers, but he made 43.9 percent of his 3s with the Spurs in 43 appearances before the trade, and he’s a career 41 percent sniper from beyond the arc.
Coming off a $14 million salary, maybe McDermott can do better than a $3.3 million vet minimum, especially if there’s a team in desperate need of shooting. But there’s also a good chance his market never materializes, and at that point, trying to help a contender like Phoenix might make sense for McDermott.
Malik Beasley
The Milwaukee Bucks are over the tax apron and cannot offer Beasley a starting salary of $4 million. Even if they could, there’s a good chance Bucks fans wouldn’t want to see him back in the Deer District, given how frustrating his game could be outside of his 3-point shooting.
… It’s worth remembering that he played this season on a minimum contract too.
However, The Athletic’s Kelly Iko is reporting that the Houston Rockets have an interest in Malik Beasley, and they’re a team that still has their non-taxpayer MLE at their disposal. Even using a fraction of that would allow them to offer more than the vet minimum, which is the best the Suns can do.
Cedi Osman
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If so, the Suns should look into adding this 6-foot-7 forward who shot a career-high 38.9 percent from distance this year. It came on only 3.1 attempts per game, but Osman filled a minor bench role admirably in San Antonio, knocking down 3s, being efficient with his looks on offense, finishing well at the rim (74 percent) and competing defensively. That’s really all the Suns would need from him too.
Osman’s value is probably closer to the vet minimum at this point, but shooting and wing depth are at a premium these days, and all it takes is one team to swoop in with a slightly better offer for the 29-year-old.
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New thread: https://dubnationhq.com/p/dnhq-rooting-guide-nba-finals-boston
GOGA
GOGA
GOGA