NOVEMBER 7: The Warriors have officially signed Santos, per NBA.com’s transaction log. His contract is worth the minimum across all three seasons, including a prorated $1,029,483 salary for the rest of the 2023/24 season.
Only $75K of that money is guaranteed, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), who adds that the second and third seasons are non-guaranteed. The deal includes a third-year team option.
NOVEMBER 6: The Warriors are finalizing a three-year contract with 2022 second-round pick Gui Santos, report Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter link).
Golden State will use the second-round pick exception to sign Santos, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). Due to their tax situation, the Warriors can only offer free agents a minimum-salary contract, which can only run for up to two years. Using the second-round exception will allow the Warriors to give Santos a three-year deal.
Santos, 21, was selected No. 55 overall last year. He signed a G League contract with Santa Cruz (Golden State’s affiliate) in 2022/23 and was essentially a draft-and-stash prospect because the Warriors still held his NBA rights.
A 6’8″ forward from Brazil, Santos averaged 12.7 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 2.2 APG on .500/.333/.813 shooting in 26 regular season games with Santa Cruz last season. He had a strong Summer League showing for the Warriors this offseason and also played for the Brazilian national team at the World Cup.
A report at the end of August indicated that Santos was unlikely to play for the Warriors this season, in part because they would have to buy out his contract from Brazilian club Minas. That deal reportedly expires at the end of ’23/24. Evidently there was a change of plans, however, and now Golden State will be giving the young wing a three-year standard contract.
The Warriors only have 13 players on standard contracts after waiving several training camp invitees before the ’23/24 season started. Instead of signing an external free agent, they’ll be adding Santos for their 14th spot, which they were required to fill within 14 days.
Golden State will still have a standard roster opening even after signing Santos, but it seems unlikely that the team will sign a player to fill that 15th spot until later in the season in order to maintain roster and financial flexibility.
RKO out of nowhere. Silver – Vince
I don’t think anyone saw that coming. And just like that, the Rudy Gay era is over before it even started.
Ummm…Maybe it never started.
Ummm…. Maybe that is precisely what I said. You may want to consider enrolling in some remedial reading comprehension classes.
I doubt many people had thoughts of there ever being a Rudy Gay era. It was pretty clear from the Summer League that Santos was going to get a contract. When he didn’t get a 2-way, it meant he was getting a full contract. So, Rudy was just a place holder.
They had to buy him out of Brazil so they couldn’t sign him to a two-way. It had to be a roster spot.
Cheapest contract they could sign tax wise. I think this says they like the 13 they have as playable depth, and Gui looked interesting enough in Vegas to take a flyer on the size and shooting. Hes a poor mans Kuminga…
Lindo
Yahtzee…What? What is that supposed to mean?
LinDo means handsome or good in Portuguese
Get out more American
pieno de merda
I don’t see the point of both a non-guaranteed third year AND a team option.
The final year of any contract signed with the second-round exception is automatically a team option. Making it non-guaranteed means that even if they pick up the option in June, they aren’t locked into his full-season salary until later in the season.
Ah, thanks Luke, I didn’t realize that about the 2nd round exception.
Yes that and the fact that if they decide on the option in June makes the non guarantee make sense as well. Thank you Luke. You always come through with the easy to understand explanations.