FEBRUARY 4th, 12:50pm: The Warriors have signed Weber to a 10-day contract, Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News tweets.
FEBRUARY 3rd, 2:14pm: The Warriors have issued a press release officially confirming that they’ve waived Varejao.
Weber’s signing is not yet official, but he’s on track to join the Warriors after also receiving offers from the Heat and Hornets, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
1:46pm: The Warriors’ frontcourt has been plagued by injuries lately, but the team doesn’t seem to be worried about its depth up front, having decided to part ways with one of its healthy big men. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Golden State is waiving Anderson Varejao, opening up a roster spot to sign Briante Weber to a 10-day contract.
Varejao, 34, re-signed with the Warriors last summer on a one-year, minimum-salary deal, but has played sparingly. The veteran center has averaged 1.3 PPG and 1.9 RPG in just 14 games (6.6 MPG) in 2016/17. Even with Draymond Green, David West, and Zaza Pachulia out of the lineup on Thursday, Varejao saw only eight minutes of action.
In addition to Green, West, and Pachulia, the Warriors are also carrying JaVale McGee, Damian Jones, Kevon Looney, and James Michael McAdoo at the four or five. As such, the team could afford to part with Varejao, particularly since the injury bug has spread to the backcourt — Shaun Livingston has missed the Warriors’ last two games with a back strain, so Weber will provide depth at guard.
Despite receiving a substantial guarantee ($328K) from the Heat, Weber didn’t make Miami’s regular season roster this past fall, and landed with the team’s D-League affiliate instead. Weber has made a strong case for a call-up, averaging 16.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 7.2 APG, and 3.0 SPG in 29 games for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He was recently named the NBADL’s Player of the Month for January.
The Heat didn’t currently have the roster flexibility to bring Weber back, but were believed to be eyeing him for a potential call-up, as we heard yesterday. Miami is out of luck for now, though it remains to be seen if Weber will stick with the Warriors — Golden State could sign him to up to two 10-day deals, then lock him up for the rest of the season. However, with the trade deadline and buyout season approaching, the Dubs may want to use their 15th roster spot on someone else in the coming weeks.
As for Varejao, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent if he clears waivers on Sunday. Denver is one team that may have interest in adding the vet, per Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net (Twitter link). The Nuggets would move closer to the salary floor by claiming Varejao and could save some money in the process, in the same way they did by acquiring Mo Williams.
Patrick McCaw and Briante Weber, great additions.
Macaw look nice early last night in the starting lineup, nailing two three pointers and looking vercomfortable with ball movement and spacing.
Another thing is we stole Weber from under the nose of the Miami Heat. Very excellent management move.
Last thing. We get a backup point guard before the Cavaliers do? LOL
When you guys say “we”, are you guys bandwagon or legit GSW fans? Lol
Personally I’ve been a fan since 1988. Lot of rough years. Ike Diogu Patrick O’Bryant Todd Fuller Jason Caffey.
My Laker fan buddies always laughed at me but Coach Nelson made it interesting with Run TMC and then 2007 was exciting. A lot of rough years in between. Finally we’re on top of the league great time to be a fan. Worth the wait.
Michael Pietris Jiri Welsh all these guys High pics didn’t turn out. Going on memory not looking it up. I’m sure there’s tons more. Thank goodness for Jerry West and Bob Myers and finally a great owner.
FINALLY got rid of Varejao. Can’t believe they took Briante from under the Heat, but he’ll provide great defense and be a facilitator when he gets minutes. Briante needs to continue to improve his jumpshot, but he might he the best perimeter defender I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something when you think about the great defenders in the last 25 years…honestly figured GS would go for Keith Benson before Briante….
Time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to cut Chris Anderson and bring Anderson Varejao back home!
Rofl if that happens, David Griffin will get fired
How the heck has Varejeo stuck in the NBA for so long? All you have to do to have a long NBA career as a center is be tall. And in his case – flop and complain.
Is anyone out there 7 ft tall? With no basketball skills? Good news! You can play in the NBA for 10 years!
Have you never seen Varejeo play? He was a top notch rebounder and top notch rim protector when he was younger and still adds quality rim protection and rebounding in a reserve role. He isn’t just a big body. He is only 6 ft 10 too. Not 7 feet like you joke. That is actually a decent difference. You are right. There are 7 footers in the league because they are 7 feet but for you to make that statement about varejeo is just plain ignorant.
Varejeo to the Celtics? A rebounding rim protector who is a vet