Warriors Notes: Kerr, Curry, Kuminga, Payton, Santos
The Warriors won’t be in a hurry to make their next trade, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Speaking to reporters before tonight’s game, head coach Steve Kerr said he wants to take a month or so to evaluate the current roster before any big changes are considered.
“I’ve talked to [general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.] about that and I think that makes perfect sense,” Kerr said. “We’ve been up and down this year, but we like the group, we like the people we have and we really want to see how we play over the next month and then just keep our options open. Obviously, we’re a game above .500 [entering Saturday’s game], so we’re not in a position to say, ‘Hey, we’re good enough. Let’s just stand firm.’ We have to assess all the options. … [But] for me, it’s let’s see what we can do in these next few weeks and hopefully we settle into this rotation, start shooting the ball better.”
Golden State made a significant deal in mid-December by acquiring Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn. Dunleavy indicated at the time that the team will continue to look for ways to upgrade its roster, but Youngmisuk notes that he has said since training camp that it would take a major offer for him to part with Jonathan Kuminga or Brandin Podziemski.
“I think with Dennis in the mix now we have a chance to really be a great defensive team again,” Kerr added. “Like we were early in the year. And if we can put it together, then we may not need to do anything (trade-wise). But we definitely need to take this next month and really see what we have.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Stephen Curry sat out Saturday’s game with Memphis due to tendinitis in his knees, Youngmisuk adds. Golden State also plays on Sunday, and Kerr said there are no plans for his star guard to skip one game of every back-to-back for the remainder of the season. “Not necessarily for the rest of the year but during this stretch where the knee tendinitis has been a factor,” Kerr said. “The training staff feels strongly that for right now it makes the most sense to not play him in back-to-backs. But that could change as we go.”
- Kuminga left tonight’s game with an ankle sprain that Kerr called “significant,” tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. He will undergo an MRI on Sunday to determine the extent of the damage, but Kerr said it won’t be a “day-to-day” injury. Kuminga landed awkwardly on his right foot late in the second quarter and seemed to roll his ankle before crashing to the court.
- Gary Payton II, who suffered a left calf strain last week, has been cleared to begin individual on-court workouts, the Warriors announced (via Twitter). He will be reevaluated again next week.
- Tuesday will be an important day for Gui Santos and Lindy Waters, who will find out if their contracts will be guaranteed for the rest of the season. Santos, who was in the same position last year, recently talked to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle about staying ready to play even though he has only appeared in 10 NBA games this season. He has tried to make the most of his trips to the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. “I just do exactly what they ask me to do — play hard, play the right way, make the right plays every time,” Santos said. “I love when I go down there and get some reps and remember how to play basketball for real. That helped me when I came up here.”
Justin Holiday Reportedly Worked Out For Warriors
Justin Holiday is among a group of “several” veteran free agents who have worked out for the Warriors in recent weeks, league sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Slater also confirms that Nassir Little worked out for Golden State, as previously reported.
Holiday, 35, spent last season with the Nuggets. He averaged 4.0 PPG, 1.2 RPG and 1.2 APG on .454/.404/.750 shooting in 58 regular season games with Denver in 2023/24 (14.9 MPG).
Holiday is the definition of a journeyman, having played for 10 NBA teams over the course of his 11 seasons in the league. One of his first stops was with the Warriors — he played for Golden State in ’14/15. He holds career averages of 8.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 1.4 APG on .400/.365/.817 shooting in 680 regular season games, including 296 starts (23.1 MPG).
However, a reunion seems pretty unlikely. According to Slater, the Warriors have no plans to fill their 15th standard roster spot to open the season due to their proximity to the first tax apron, at which they’re hard-capped for the ’24/25 campaign. While it’s possible that a veteran could outplay Gui Santos or Lindy Waters — both of whom are on non-guaranteed deals — in training camp and preseason, Slater expresses skepticism that the Warriors will release either player.
Slater also provides an update on No. 52 overall pick Quinten Post, who remains unsigned. According to Slater, Post has been earmarked for a two-way contract, which means one of Golden State’s three two-way players — Pat Spencer, Reece Beekman or Daeqwon Plowden — will have to be cut soon.
It’s worth noting that Atlanta’s G League affiliate recently gave up a second-round NBAGL draft pick in a trade to acquire Plowden’s returning rights. While G League draft picks (especially second-rounders) aren’t all that valuable, it still seems unlikely that the College Park Skyhawks would’ve given one up if they expected Plowden to remain with the Warriors all season, since he’d continue to play for Santa Cruz in the NBAGL as long as he remains on his two-way deal with Golden State.
Warriors Showing Patience In Pursuit Of Lauri Markkanen
The Warriors haven’t given up in their pursuit to acquire Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen but they’re willing to wait and see how the process plays out, Anthony Slater of The Athletic reports.
Markkanen, who has an expiring $18MM contract, becomes extension-eligible on Aug. 6. From what Slater is hearing, the Jazz plan to renegotiate-and-extend Markkanen by using their remaining cap space.
If Markkanen signs that type of contract on that date, he would still be eligible to be traded at the February deadline. However, if he signs any time after that (beginning on Aug. 7), he’d be ineligible to be dealt during the season due to the league’s six-month trade restriction on renegotiated contracts. That provides some extra leverage for Markkanen, which could dictate whether he gets moved this offseason to the Warriors or another suitor.
The Kings made a strong push to acquire Markkanen last week but they were unwilling to give up Keegan Murray in a proposed deal. Instead, they made a substantial picks-based offer. They put a deadline on pursuing a trade with Utah and the Jazz didn’t meet it, so Sacramento pivoted to a sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan.
The Warriors don’t feel that type of urgency, Slater continues. They’re comfortable with the 14-man roster they current have with the free agent additions of De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield. There’s no room financially under the hard cap to fill the 15th spot.
Golden State appears, on paper, to need one more impact player to be a legitimate contender again. But Slater’s sources tell him that the front office and ownership don’t feel compelled to make that type of move right away unless the right opportunity comes along. It’s also noted that the front office is increasingly willing to add future first-round picks and make pick swaps in trade offers.
The Warriors are currently below the tax aprons but above the tax line. Owner Joe Lacob is still willing to spend to remain competitive.
Lindy Waters III and Gui Santos have non-guaranteed deals but the Warriors currently plan to keep both of those reserves. Second-round pick Quinten Post is expected to sign a two-way contract, Slater adds.
And-Ones: Nunn, Hield, Harris, Westbrook, Wagner, Brazil Roster
Former NBA guard Kendrick Nunn signed a two-year contract extension with Panathinaikos in Greece earlier this month, but he’s not ruling out an NBA return, he told Vangelis Papadimitriou of Eurohoops.net. The contract includes NBA out clauses, under specific conditions.
“I’ll be honored to go back. You never know,” he said.
In the meantime, he hopes to bring multiple EuroLeague titles to his current team. Nunn was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team in his first season with the club.
“To play here with one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Playing at a high level. With great guys in the locker room that I enjoy playing with and bonding. It wasn’t hard. I love Panathinaikos and Greece,” he said.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Which impending free agents hurt their stock during the postseason? HoopsHype’s Frank Urbina identifies four players — Buddy Hield, Tobias Harris, Russell Westbrook and Moritz Wagner — who fall in that category. Westbrook has the ability to exercise a player option for next season, while Wagner’s deal includes a team option.
- Brazil has announced a roster of 17 players for its Olympic qualifier tournament in Riga, Latvia. The roster will eventually be pared to 12 players. Gui Santos, who played 23 games with the Warriors as a rookie this season, made the list. Raul Neto, Cristiano Felicio, Didi Louzada and Bruno Caboclo are among former NBA players who are also on the preliminary roster, Sportando relays.
- In case you missed it, Taylor Jenkins, Willie Green and Chauncey Billups top the list of coaches on the hot seat next season.
Olympic Notes: France, Australia, Germany, Brazil
Ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, the host nation has announced its preliminary 19-man roster (Twitter link). As Eurohoops relays, the headliners on France’s squad are big men Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, the top two finishers in this year’s Defensive Player of the Year vote.
However, there are several more notable NBA names on the list, including Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier, Bilal Coulibaly, and Ousmane Dieng. Other recent NBAers who didn’t finish the 2023/24 season on a roster include Killian Hayes, Frank Ntilikina, and Theo Maledon.
One player not on France’s roster is veteran guard Mike James. The 2023/24 EuroLeague MVP is an American, but according to a report from L’Equipe (hat tip to BasketNews.com), the French Basketball Federation explored the possibility of getting a French passport for James, who has played for AS Monaco in France’s LNB Pro A since 2021. That effort didn’t make any real headway, however.
“We do not have the culture of other nations which use naturalized players in a systematic way,” an unnamed executive told L’Equipe. “But we have a duty to explore all possibilities. In this case, we were asked, we looked at it and quickly established that it was not a question.”
The French national team will have to make seven cuts and set a 12-man roster for this July’s event.
Here are a few more updates related to the 2024 Olympics:
- The Australian national team has trimmed its preliminary Olympic roster from 22 players to 17, the Boomers announced in a press release. None of the NBA players on the roster – including Josh Giddey, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills, Dante Exum, Matisse Thybulle, and Dyson Daniels, among others – were among the cuts, but potential 2024 first-round pick Johnny Furphy was. The plan is for those 17 Australian players to attend training camp this summer before setting the final 12-man roster.
- The German national team announced this week that head coach Gordon Herbert won’t continue on in that role after the conclusion of the Paris Olympics (hat tip to Sportando). The two sides are going their separate ways after a fruitful partnership that included a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
- The Brazilian national team has announced its preliminary roster for this summer’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Latvia. The notable names include veteran point guard Raul Neto, former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo, Warriors rookie Gui Santos, and former NBA guard Didi Louzada. The Brazilians will need to win the six-team qualifier to earn a spot in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
Injury Notes: Paul, Santos, Simmons, Isaac, Sasser
Future Hall-of-Famer Chris Paul is not listed on the Warriors‘ injury report for Tuesday’s contest vs. the Wizards, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. That means the 38-year-old will be active for tomorrow’s game, which will be his first contest since January 5.
Paul has been sidelined for most of the past two months after fracturing his left hand, which required surgery. While he was mentioned in several rumors leading up to the trade deadline, the Warriors decided to keep him for the home stretch of the 2023/24 season.
In his first season with Golden State, the 11-time All-NBA point guard has averaged 8.9 PPG, 7.2 APG, 3.8 RPG and 1.1 SPG on .424/.361/.833 shooting in 32 games (27.6 MPG), mostly off the bench (11 starts).
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- The lone member of the Warriors who is on tomorrow’s injury report is rookie Gui Santos, who is out with right knee inflammation. According to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link), the Brazilian forward had an MRI, which showed no structural damage. Santos thinks he could return at some point next week, Poole adds.
- Nets guard Ben Simmons injured his leg in Saturday’s loss to Minnesota, which saw him exit the game in the third quarter. However, the issue seems to be a minor one, as he’s questionable for Monday’s contest vs. Memphis with left leg soreness, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Simmons has only played 14 games in 2023/24, mostly due to a nerve impingement in his lower back. It’s worth noting that he missed one game last month with a left knee injury, though it’s unclear if the two issues are related.
- Another oft-injured player, Magic big man Jonathan Isaac, underwent an MRI on his left knee/leg, but it revealed “no significant injuries,” the team announced (via Twitter). The defensive stalwart is questionable for Tuesday’s contest vs. Brooklyn with a left knee strain. Isaac was limited to two minutes of action in Sunday’s loss to Atlanta due to the injury.
- Pistons guard Marcus Sasser will be reevaluated in one week after sustaining a knee contusion, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. The former Houston Cougar has had an impressive rookie season for Detroit, averaging 7.7 PPG and 3.0 APG on .468/.424/.850 shooting in 50 games off the bench (16.3 MPG). Sasser was the 25th overall pick of last year’s draft.
Klay Thompson Discusses Latest Fourth Quarter Benching
Longtime Warriors star Klay Thompson sat out the final 7:19 of Golden State’s victory over Brooklyn on Monday, marking the second time in the past three games that he has been on the bench down the stretch in non-garbage-time minutes.
Thompson was part of the Warriors’ closing lineup on Saturday in Atlanta, but didn’t play the final 7:40 of Friday’s win over Memphis and was benched on Monday in favor of rookie Gui Santos, who had his best game as a pro in logging a career-high 18 minutes.
Asked after Monday’s win about his changing role and the fact that he’s no longer on a lock to be part of Golden State’s crunch-time lineup, Thompson said that winning is the most important thing, but admitted the adjustment hasn’t been easy, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“Yeah, you kidding me?” Thompson said. “To go from, you know, one of the best players … it’s hard for anybody. I’ll be honest with you. It’s very hard.”
A five-time All-Star who led the NBA in three-pointers last season, Thompson is making 37.1% of his attempts from beyond the arc in 2023/24. That’s a solid rate for many players, but for Thompson, it represents a career low. Additionally, his 17.1 points per game are the fewest he has averaged since 2012/13.
“He’s fine,” head coach Steve Kerr said on Monday, according to Bontemps. “This is a season where he’s had a lot of ups and downs. It’s not easy for a guy who’s been so good and a Hall of Fame player to deal with the injuries and … it’s never easy for any player, getting older. (But) he’s mentally tough.”
Kerr added that, while there’s a “spotlight” on Thompson because of his career résumé, the story on Monday should be about how well role players like Santos, Moses Moody, and Lester Quinones performed off the bench to help the Warriors secure a road win. Thompson highlighted those performances by his teammates in explaining why he’s trying not to let his late-game benching bother him.
“I’ve accepted it,” Thompson said. “You can be mad. But I’m not going to be mad. I’m happy for these young guys. Yeah, we won. It’s hard to get wins in this league. … It’s all good. These guys played great. Gui played great. BP (Brandin Podziemski). Jonathan (Kuminga). At the end of the day, winning trumps all.”
Thompson is on an expiring contract and his name has popped up occasionally in the rumor mill leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently reported the Warriors have no interest in moving the veteran sharpshooter.
Slater expressed a belief last month that Golden State will ultimately work out a new contract with Thompson, who reportedly turned down a two-year extension offer from the team prior to the season.
Warriors Notes: Curry, Wiggins, Thompson, Santos
While Stephen Curry has produced like a Most Valuable Player, his teammates haven’t been contributing at their usual levels, ESPN’s Kendra Andrews notes. Curry has delivered six 30-point games, but the Warriors have gotten just one 20-point performance from anyone else.
“No question, we need some scoring and some play-making elsewhere,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Golden State has lost three straight and Curry expects some tweaks to be made.
“Everything is on the table for us for adjustments,” Curry said. “When you’ve lost three straight, you have to make adjustments.”
We have more on the Warriors:
- Andrew Wiggins is one of those players who is looking to regain his offensive rhythm. Wiggins had just six points in 25 minutes against Minnesota and hasn’t scored more than 17 in any contest this season. He hasn’t been part of the closing unit, either. “It’s tough,” Wiggins told Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “I’ve just got to do what I can to give them a reason to keep me in. Whether it’s crashing the glass harder, defensively picking up. … If your shot is off, you’ve got to do other stuff to stay on the floor. Or someone else will come in.”
- Along the same lines, Klay Thompson is searching for answers to his shooting slump, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic details. Thompson, who is headed to free agency unless he signs an extension, is averaging 16.1 points per game — his lowest output since his rookie year. He’s shooting a career low 34.7% on 3-point attempts. Thompson says there’s nothing wrong with him physically and he hasn’t lost any confidence. “If history shows us anything, it’s most definitely coming. What’s the point of panicking and pressing? I’ve been through this more than a decade,” he said. “It’s hard. Basketball is hard. I’m not going to lose faith or confidence. One thing I’ve proved is the resiliency within me. I’ll come back and have a great month.”
- The Warriors had financial motives to add 2022 second-round pick Gui Santos on a three-year contract, as John Hollinger of The Athletic explains. Santos is considered a “draft rookie” and thus his minimum salary for luxury-tax purposes is just $1.03MM instead the $2.02MM for a veteran on a minimum contract. Factoring in the luxury and repeater taxes, the Warriors would have been out another $8MM if they had used the 14th roster spot on a veteran. Due to the non-guaranteed status of Santos’ contract, the Warriors could waive Santos just before the Jan. 10 guarantee date, go two weeks with a 13-player roster and then add another player prior to the trade deadline.
Warriors Sign Gui Santos To Three-Year Deal
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.
Pacific Notes: Harden, Plumlee, Davis, Santos
James Harden‘s debut with the Clippers was spoiled by the Knicks, who pulled out a 111-97 win on Monday in New York. But Harden said after the game that he sees “unlimited possibilities” for what he, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook can do together, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Harden, who admitted that he felt “kind of weird out there” playing in his first game since the spring after not having a training camp with his new team, scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting and handed out six assists in 31 minutes of action.
As Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports writes, it looks like Harden will defer primary play-making duties to Westbrook to open games, then sub out early before returning to spearhead the team’s second unit. Despite Monday’s loss, head coach Tyronn Lue was pleased with what he saw from his club’s newest guard.
“He did a good job his first game in a while,” Leonard said, per Youngmisuk. “And it takes time to get his legs under him as far as conditioning. But he did a great job to me, got everybody involved running pick-and-roll very well.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Clippers reserve center Mason Plumlee had to be carried off the court by a pair of team staffers following a collision with Julius Randle on Monday, Youngmisuk notes. The original diagnosis for Plumlee is a left knee sprain, but he’ll undergo further evaluation on Tuesday before the team officially announces a recovery timeline.
- Lakers big man Anthony Davis dealt with spasms in his left hip on Monday and had to leave the team’s loss to Miami late in the first half. However, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, Davis said he’s “very optimistic” that the hip issue won’t force him to miss additional time. “Everything’s going to be fine,” Davis said. “I’ll be ready to go for Wednesday, for sure.”
- Although he’s getting a three-year deal and a spot on the Warriors‘ standard roster, forward Gui Santos is expected to continue spending much of his time in the G League with Santa Cruz, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN, who says Santos will split his team between the NBA and NBAGL squads.