Warriors Waive Seth Curry, LJ Cryer
The Warriors have made a pair of cuts, announcing in a press release that they’ve placed guards Seth Curry and LJ Cryer on waivers (Twitter link).
The decision to waive Curry, who was in camp on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, had been expected. While Golden State reportedly wants to have Stephen Curry‘s brother on its roster, the team is hard-capped at the second tax apron and isn’t currently in position to carry a 15th man.
The younger Curry is expected to return to the team at some point within the first couple months of the season, tweets Anthony Slater of ESPN. The Warriors could bring the 12-year veteran back by mid-November but could opt to wait a little longer than that in order to give themselves a little additional flexibility below their hard cap for the rest of the season.
Cryer, meanwhile, had a solid preseason with Golden State, averaging 5.0 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game across five outings. It seemed as if the undrafted rookie out of Houston might be making a case for a two-way deal, but today’s move suggests the plan is likely for him to join the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s G League affiliate, assuming he clears waivers.
Cryer would earn a bonus worth $85,300 if he spends at least 60 days with Santa Cruz.
The Warriors now have 14 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.
Pelicans Waive Christian Shumate
Camp invitee Christian Shumate has been waived by the Pelicans, the team announced today (Twitter link).
Shumate went undrafted this June after spending his final four college seasons at McNeese State. While the 6’6″ forward made just 26.9% of his three-pointers and 51.2% on free throws over the course of his college career, he was an All-Southland selection in each of his four years with the Cowboys and won the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award in both 2024 and 2025.
In 35 games as a senior last season, Shumate averaged 10.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27.6 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .623/.309/.423. He helped the Cowboys reach the NCAA tournament for the second straight year — they upset Clemson in the first round before falling to Purdue.
Shumate made three appearances during the preseason for the Pelicans, averaging 4.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 6.1 MPG. His next step will likely be the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ G League affiliate. He’ll earn a $50K bonus on top of his base G League salary if he spends at least 60 days with the Squadron.
The Pelicans now have 18 players under contract — 14 on guaranteed deals, Jaden Springer on an Exhibit 9 agreement, and three on two-way contracts.
Raptors Sign, Waive Julian Reese
9:40 pm: Toronto has waived Reese, the team announced. As noted below, he’s now eligible for a bonus if he spends at least 60 days with the Raptors 905.
1:23 pm: The Raptors have signed undrafted rookie forward Julian Reese, the team announced today in a press release. It’s a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).
Reese spent the past four seasons at Maryland, where he averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 28.5 minutes per game (36 appearances) as a senior in 2024/25. By the time he left the Terrapins, he was the second all-time leading rebounder in school history, behind only Len Elmore.
Reese, whose sister Angel Reese plays for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, joined the Lakers’ Summer League team in July and appeared in four games for the club — two at the California Classic and two in Las Vegas. He averaged 3.0 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 11.5 MPG.
The Raptors likely plan on making Reese an affiliate player for the Raptors 905, their G League team. Assuming he’s waived within the next couple days and then reports to Toronto’s NBAGL affiliate, he’d be in line to earn a bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his standard G League salary as long as he stays with the team for at least 60 days.
The Raptors cut five players from their preseason roster on Thursday, so there was plenty of room for Reese. The team now has 17 players under contract.
NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: Golden State Warriors
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Golden State Warriors.
Free agent signings
Jonathan Kuminga: Two years, $46,800,000. Second-year team option. Trade kicker (15%). Re-signed using Bird rights. Waived right to veto trade.- Al Horford: Two years, $11,654,250. Second-year player option. Trade kicker (15%). Signed using taxpayer mid-level exception.
- De’Anthony Melton: Two years, minimum salary. Second-year player option. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Gary Payton II: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Seth Curry: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 9). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- LJ Cryer: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Marques Bolden: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Note: Bolden has since been waived.
- Ja’Vier Francis: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Note: Francis has since been waived.
- Taevion Kinsey: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Note: Kinsey has since been waived.
- Chance McMillian: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Note: McMillian has since been waived.
- Jacksen Moni: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Note: Moni has since been waived.
Trades
- Acquired the draft rights to Alex Toohey (No. 52 pick; from Suns) and the draft rights to Jahmai Mashack (No. 59 pick; from Rockets) in a seven-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Koby Brea (No. 41 pick; to Suns).
- Acquired the draft rights to Will Richard (No. 56 pick) from the Grizzlies in exchange for the draft rights to Jahmai Mashack (No. 59 pick), the Warriors’ 2032 second-round pick (top-50 protected), and the draft rights to Justinian Jessup.
Draft picks
- 2-52: Alex Toohey
- Signed to two-way contract.
- 2-56: Will Richard
- Signed to four-year, $8,685,386 contract. First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year team option.
Two-way signings
- Pat Spencer
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
- Alex Toohey
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
Note: The Warriors carried over Jackson Rowe on a two-way contract from 2024/25.
Departed/unsigned free agents
- Taran Armstrong (Dubai Basketball)
- Braxton Key (Grizzlies)
- Kevin Knox (Bulls)
- Kevon Looney (Pelicans)
Other roster moves
- Exercised team option on Gui Santos ($2,221,677).
- Exercised team option on Quinten Post ($1,955,377).
Salary cap situation
- Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
- Carrying approximately $205.3MM in salary.
- Hard-capped at $207,824,000.
- Two traded player exceptions frozen (largest worth $8,780,488).
The offseason so far
When we talk about what an NBA team did in the offseason, we usually refer to their “summer” moves. However, that’s a misnomer for the 2025 Warriors. As RealGM’s transaction log shows, after officially finalizing a pair of trades on July 6 that they’d agreed upon during June’s draft, Golden State didn’t complete another transaction until September 29 — the team officially signed 10 players that day (three of them were immediately waived).
Obviously, Golden State’s front office wasn’t just taking a two-and-a-half month vacation. Jonathan Kuminga‘s restricted free agency was the reason for delay. The standoff between Kuminga and the Warriors became one of the offseason’s biggest stories after the first wave of free agency wrapped up in early July and ultimately took nearly three months to resolve, with the forward taking his decision almost right up to the October 1 deadline to accept a qualifying offer.
Technically, there was no rule preventing the Warriors from filling out the rest of their roster before they figured out what would happen with Kuminga. But that approach didn’t make sense for Golden State for a couple reasons.
For one, the Warriors were exploring the possibility of a sign-and-trade, discussing potential deals with the Suns and Kings. It didn’t sound like they ever gained any real traction with Phoenix, and Sacramento’s various offers – centered around draft assets plus either Malik Monk or the duo of Devin Carter and Dario Saric – didn’t hold much appeal either. But if either of those division rivals had increased their bid for Kuminga and made Golden State seriously consider a sign-and-trade, the team didn’t want to have the rest of its signings already locked in, since that could have resulted in significant roster imbalance.
More importantly, determining whether Kuminga would be back and how much he would be paid in 2025/26 dictated what the Warriors would be able to do with those other roster spots from a financial perspective. Kuminga accepting his $8MM qualifying offer would’ve resulted in a whole lot more cap flexibility than if he’d signed one of the team’s more lucrative multiyear proposals.
Conversely, if the Warriors had hard-capped themselves early in the offseason by, say, using the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Al Horford, they would’ve risked another team giving Kuminga an offer sheet that they wouldn’t have been able to match without shedding salary. No team besides the Nets had cap room for most of the summer, and Brooklyn showed little to no interest in Kuminga, but as we saw with the Bucks and their Damian Lillard/Myles Turner moves, a team that wants to create cap space badly enough can typically find a way to do it.
So even though we knew for most of the summer what most of the Warriors’ roster moves would look like, those moves weren’t finalized until the fall. At that point, Kuminga accepted a two-year, $46.8MM deal that includes a second-year team option, no trade veto rights, and a 15% trade kicker; Horford received a two-year contract worth the full taxpayer mid-level exception with a second-year player option and a 15% trade kicker; De’Anthony Melton got a two-year, minimum-salary contract; Gary Payton II signed a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal; and second-round pick Will Richard received a rookie minimum salary on his four-year contract.
Horford, who will turn 40 next June, is one of the NBA’s oldest players, while Melton is still making his way back from the torn ACL that ended his 2024/25 season after just six games. But as long as they’re healthy, both players are excellent fits for this Warriors roster.
Horford is a savvy, smart defender who is capable of stretching the floor from the five spot. Melton can do a little bit of everything, and his versatile defense makes him an intriguing backcourt partner for Stephen Curry. In a very limited sample of 47 minutes before Melton’s ACL tear last season, lineups that included that Melton/Curry duo had a +38.4 net rating.
The big question is what happens with Kuminga. While it was a relief when his three-month free agency eventually came to an end, a two-year deal that includes a second-year option doesn’t exactly lock in his long-term future. Rather than making a decision on how the former lottery pick fits into their long-term plans, the Warriors simply postponed that decision for at least a few more months.
Kuminga will become trade-eligible on January 15 and it feels like there’s a very real chance he’s moved at some point during the three-week window between that date and the trade deadline — especially if Steve Kerr and his coaching staff continue to have trouble finding a consistent role for the 23-year-old that mutually benefits him and the team.
Up next
Seth Curry, who is on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, has spent the preseason on the same roster as his superstar brother for the first time since he entered the league in 2013. However, the Warriors don’t have enough room below their second-apron hard cap to keep the younger Curry brother on their regular season roster — at least not yet. As of mid-November, Golden State would be able to fit a prorated minimum-salary contract under that hard cap and could reunite the Curry brothers.
While it does sounds like the plan is to bring Seth back at some point, the Warriors may not do so immediately once they’re eligible to next month, since it would leave them with essentially no wiggle room below the second apron for the rest of 2025/26. I expect Seth to be a Warrior by season’s end, but the team could end up carrying a 14-man roster for at least a couple months.
Jackson Rowe, Pat Spencer, and Alex Toohey currently occupy Golden State’s two-way slots, but I wouldn’t be shocked if LJ Cryer, who is on an Exhibit 10 contract and has played well in the preseason, is converted to a two-way deal by Monday’s deadline. Rowe could be the odd man out, given that he was a holdover from last season and has had a very limited role this fall.
Finally, although Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis are currently eligible for veteran contract extensions, I’d be somewhat surprised if either player gets a new deal in the coming days. The Warriors barely have any money on their 2027/28 cap and would presumably prefer to maintain that flexibility for the time being. If Green or Jackson-Davis signs an extension at this point, it would probably have to be a short-term deal that includes little to no guaranteed money beyond ’26/27. The team would probably be happy to wait until 2026 to get serious about those negotiations.
Thunder Sign Dariq Whitehead To Exhibit 10 Deal
5:18 pm: Whitehead did indeed sign an Exhibit 10 contract, confirms Keith Smith of Spotrac (via Twitter).
10:21 am: Four days after being waived by the Nets, former first-round pick Dariq Whitehead has signed with the Thunder, the team announced today.
A 6’7″ wing, Whitehead was a consensus five-star high school recruit who spent a single season at Duke in 2022/23. He was drafted 22nd overall by Brooklyn in 2023, but only played in 22 NBA games during his first two years in the league, averaging 5.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest.
A series of injuries have derailed Whitehead’s NBA career so far. After undergoing a pair of surgeries on his right foot before being drafted, he had another procedure in January 2024 to address a stress reaction in his left shin, ending his rookie season early.
The Nets opted to waive Whitehead this fall even though his $3.26MM salary for the coming season was fully guaranteed. That money remained on Brooklyn’s cap after the 21-year-old cleared waivers earlier this week.
Whitehead’s new deal with the Thunder will likely be an Exhibit 10 contract, lining him up to receive a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he becomes an affiliate player for the Oklahoma City Blue and spends at least 60 days with OKC’s G League team.
The G League also figures to be the next stop for Cameron Brown, the forward who signed with the Thunder on Thursday. Brown was waived today in order to make room on the roster for Whitehead, per the club.
Pistons Sign, Waive Four Players
October 17: After spending training camp and preseason with Detroit, Bediako, Garcia and Williams have been waived as well, per the league’s transaction log.
September 18, 9:46 pm: The Pistons have waived Ukomadu, according to the NBA’s transaction log.
September 18, 1:14 pm: The Pistons have signed center Charles Bediako, forwards Dawson Garcia and John Ukomadu, and wing Brice Williams to non-guaranteed training camp contracts, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
Bediako, who went undrafted out of Alabama in 2023, has played in the G League for the past two seasons, first for the Austin Spurs and then for the Grand Rapids Gold. The seven-footer appeared in 50 games for the Gold last season, averaging 9.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per contest, then had his returning rights traded to the Motor City Cruise (Detroit’s affiliate) earlier this week.
Garcia is an undrafted rookie who agreed to a deal with the Pistons in June after a five-year college career that included a three-year stint with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The 6’11” forward put up 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 35.3 minutes per game in 32 outings as a super-senior in 2024/25, with a shooting line of .474/.373/.783.
Ukomadu played for Motor City last season after going undrafted out of Eastern Kentucky in 2024. The 6’7″ forward made 53.0% of shots from the floor, including 45.9% of his three-point tries, but played a relatively modest role for the Pistons’ NBAGL affiliate, averaging 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per game.
Williams, like Dawson, went undrafted this June, then suited up for Detroit’s Summer League team in Las Vegas. In his final college season at Nebraska in 2024/25, he scored 20.4 points per game on .471/.370/.883 shooting in 35 appearances (all starts). he also contributed 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest.
All four players likely signed Exhibit 10 contracts, which are non-guaranteed minimum-salary deals that can be converted into two-way contracts before the start of the NBA regular season.
Since all three of the Pistons’ two-way slots are occupied, the more likely outcome for Bediako, Garcia, Ukomadu, and Williams is that they’re waived and then report to the Motor City Cruise — Bediako and Ukomadu would be returning-rights players, while Garcia and Williams could be designated as affiliate players. They’d be eligible to earn bonuses worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with the Cruise.
Detroit now has a full 21-man offseason roster.
Bulls Sign, Waive Mac McClung
4:24 pm: McClung has officially been signed and waived by the Bulls, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.
1:59 pm: The Bulls have agreed to a deal with free agent guard Mac McClung, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
McClung, 26, has become a household name among NBA fans by winning the league’s past three slam dunk contests. However, he has still seen limited game action at the NBA level, appearing in just six total regular season contests for four teams from 2021-25. He was on a two-way contract with the Magic for all of last season, but logged just 10 total minutes in two outings for Orlando.
McClung has starred in the G League in recent years, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL first team in 2024/25 after being named MVP in ’23/24. In a total of 44 appearances for the Osceola Magic last season, he averaged 23.0 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .481/.344/.828.
With 15 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, the Bulls may not have a spot available on their regular season roster for McClung. If the plan is to have him play for their G League affiliate, then the Windy City Bulls would need to acquire his returning rights from Osceola.
Assuming McClung signs an Exhibit 10 contract, he’d be eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 if he spends at least 60 days with Windy City.
Rockets Sign, Waive Daishen Nix, Caleb McConnell
3:38 pm: Both players have been waived, according to the Rockets (Twitter link via Smith). Houston is now back at 18 players under contract.
3:00 pm: The Rockets have signed a pair of free agent guards, announcing that they’ve added Daishen Nix and Caleb McConnell to their roster (Twitter link via Keith Smith of Spotrac). Houston now has 20 players under contract, one below the preseason limit.
Nix, who has appeared in 99 NBA regular season games since entering the league in 2021, spent the first two years of his career in Houston and played for the Rockets’ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, for much of last season after opening the year on a two-way deal with Minnesota.
In 24 games for the Vipers in 2024/25, Nix averaged 15.3 points, 7.0 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 32.2 minutes per contest. However, the 6’4″ guard struggled to score efficiently and take care of the basketball — he made just 26.4% of 5.0 three-point attempts per game and averaged 3.8 turnovers per night.
McConnell, a 6’7″ shooting guard, has played in the G League since going undrafted out of Rutgers in 2023. He made 42 appearances for the Greensboro Swarm last season and registered averages of 6.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.6 steals in 25.9 minutes per game.
McConnell was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the Scarlet Knights.
The Vipers hold Nix’s returning rights and acquired McConnell’s in a multi-team trade earlier this week, so it’s highly likely that both players will be waived in the next 24 hours or so and then report to Houston’s NBAGL affiliate. Assuming they received Exhibit 10 contracts, which is likely, they’ll each earn a bonus worth up to $85,300 if they spend at least 60 days with the Vipers.
Bucks Sign A.J. Green To Four-Year Extension
October 17: Green’s extension with the Bucks is now official, according to a team press release.
October 16: The Bucks and sharpshooter A.J. Green are in agreement on a four-year, $45MM contract extension, agent Matt Bollero tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). According to Charania, the deal is fully guaranteed.
Green, 26, joined the Bucks in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Northern Iowa. After playing a modest role in his first two seasons, he emerged as a consistent part of the team’s regular rotation in 2024/25, logging a career-high 22.7 minutes per game in 73 outings and averaging 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per night.
Green is a 6’4″ three-and-D wing with a career rate of 42.1% from beyond the arc, including 42.7% last season. The Bucks had a +6.4 net rating during his 1,659 minutes of action in ’24/25, compared to a -0.9 mark in the 2,292 minutes he didn’t play.
Because he was an undrafted free agent rather than a former first-round pick, Green was eligible for a veteran contract extension – not a rookie scale extension – as he entered the final year of his current contract with Milwaukee.
His salary of $2.3MM in 2025/26 is well below the NBA’s estimated average salary ($13.87MM). That meant he was eligible to receive a starting salary worth up to 40% of the estimated average salary on an extension, which worked out to a maximum of $87MM over four seasons.
However, as I wrote earlier this week when I identified Green as an under-the-radar extension candidate to watch, the Bucks were never likely to have to go nearly that high to retain him. I pointed to Sam Merrill‘s recent contract with Cleveland (four years, $38MM) as a reference point for Green and noted that he’s three years younger than Merrill and has been a more accurate shooter (albeit on a lower volume), so he had a case for an eight-figure annual salary.
Still, getting four guaranteed years at more than $11MM per season is a big win for Green — as ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), his career earnings to date, including his salary for the coming season, total just $6.3MM.
Green is now just one of two Bucks players who is owed guaranteed money beyond the 2026/27 season, along with Myles Turner. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, Ryan Rollins, and Tyler Smith all have player or team options for ’27/28 on their respective deals.
New York Notes: Kolek, Yabusele, Thomas, Powell
In the wake of Malcolm Brogdon‘s sudden retirement announcement, the Knicks are weighing their options for the backup point guard position behind Jalen Brunson.
In the view of Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required), the team has three options: Trade for a backup, give second-year guard Tyler Kolek a chance to earn a rotation role, or take a committee approach, with Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges all taking on additional ball-handling responsibilities.
For his part, Brunson doesn’t sound like someone who wants the front office to go out and make a trade to fortify the depth at his position. He expressed confidence in the team’s in-house options, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post.
“We’re in good hands, great hands,” Brunson said on Thursday. “[Kolek] has been getting better every day. Deuce has been getting better every day. Those guys, they come in and they work on their game nonstop. When you see that, you have the utmost confidence that when their number is called they’re going to be ready to go. So like I said, we’re in good hands.”
Head coach Mike Brown also made it clear he’s not particularly concerned about how the Knicks will get by when Brunson is off the court.
“We feel like we have a deep roster, and a lot of guys will have an opportunity to grab whatever minutes might have been there or might not have been there,” Brown said, per Botte. “It’s just a case of earning your stripes, and we’ll figure it out at the end of the day, whoever’s gonna get whatever minutes are available.”
Here are a few more notes on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- It hasn’t been an especially memorable preseason for Knicks forward/center Guerschon Yabusele, who has scored just seven points on 3-of-13 shooting in 42 total minutes of action through three games. As Bondy writes for The New York Post, Brown and the Knicks recognize that there will be a “learning curve” for the newcomer as he adjusts to both a new team and a new system. “I’m really trying to be as much as I can be focused to try to get every detail to make sure I’m at the right spot,” Yabusele said. “For me, it’s a new team with new guys so I really try to fit into the system and be a solution, not a problem.”
- Brown has expressed a desire to treat Friday’s preseason finale as a dress rehearsal for the season and use his “normal rotation” for the game. However, four key Knicks – Hart (back), OG Anunoby (ankle), Karl-Anthony Towns (quad), and Mitchell Robinson (load management) – are considered day-to-day and may not be in position to play big minutes, if they’re available at all, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (subscription required).
- Given the make-up of the Nets‘ roster, it’s safe to assume Cam Thomas will do plenty of shooting and scoring in 2025/26. Still, head coach Jordi Fernandez is pushing Thomas to take advantage of the defensive attention he’ll receive by improving his play-making and creating shots for teammates, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Yeah, me and Jordi always talk about it, we always have conversations about it,” Thomas said. “Jordi is also very understanding of who I am as a player. He knows I’m a scorer and he knows how I play. But it’s also the fine line of being aggressive, get your own shot and then getting guys other shots. We always have that dialogue, and it’s great. So this year we have a better understanding. He has a better understanding of me, and I have a better understanding of what he wants.”
- Nets rookie Drake Powell‘s 13.8% usage rate during his first and only season at UNC was the lowest of any wing ever drafted, per The Athletic, but Fernandez isn’t concerned at all about that, writes Lewis. “I wasn’t there [at UNC], and I cannot judge whether it’s positive or negative,” the Nets’ head coach said. “But I see [Powell] as an elite on-ball defender, as probably the best athlete of this draft, a player that can run a play on the second side, a very good ball-handler. … He’s going to have to take advantage of his minutes. If he starts with [an] opportunity, great. If not, the opportunity will come.”