The Warriors and Ben Gordon are close to agreement on a deal for training camp, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Gordon has remained in free agency since he cleared waivers from the Magic, who released him in June rather than guarantee his $4.5MM salary. Golden State doesn’t have the capacity to give the 11-year veteran and former Sixth Man of the Year more than the minimum salary, and it would appear that little, if any, guaranteed money would be involved.
Gordon, who’s hit 40.1% of his career three-point attempts, would give Golden State an extra shooter, an asset the team has been looking for, Stein notes. He bounced back this past season, knocking down 36.1% of his treys, after an uncharacteristic 27.6% three-point shooting performance for Charlotte in 2013/14. The 32-year-old nonetheless saw a career-low 14.1 minutes per game in his year with Orlando, fueling the notion that the Magic overpaid when they struck a two-year, $9MM deal with Gordon in 2014.
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Golden State already has 19 players with either signed contracts or verbal agreements, leaving just one open spot for camp, as our roster count shows. Room on the regular season roster is similarly tight, with 13 full guarantees and a partial guarantee for James Michael McAdoo, who has drawn raves from coach Steve Kerr.
Should the Warriors sign Gordon? Leave a comment to tell us.
They need him. Barbosa contributed nothing when GS needed it in the playoffs.
Or someone with that scoring skill set off the bench who still has something left in the tank…
Agreed
Gordon is streaky shooter. A perimeter threat on any NBA team, definitely deserves the spot over JMM.