The Golden State Warriors have already gotten a look at what a young, energetic addition can do through Yaxel Lendeborg, but Walter Clayton Jr. is the one that got away.
Clayton was available right before the season after the Memphis Grizzlies waived him, and the Warriors had shown interest in moving into the first round to land him 18 months ago. This time, though, they weren’t in the mix when Clayton ended up with the Dallas Mavericks on a two-way contract.
Now Dallas is the team getting the payoff. Clayton made a real splash in Monday night’s 113-109 win over the Heat in Miami, and he did it in a hurry. The 23-year-old finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and a block in only 17 minutes off the bench, hitting 6-of-7 shots and going 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
It’s the kind of performance that reminds people why Clayton was viewed as a possible lottery pick just last year, and why Golden State had its eyes on the Florida product even after trading its first-round pick to the Miami Heat in the Jimmy Butler deal months ago.
Inside Dallas, the reaction has been strong too. Plenty of Mavericks fans were stunned that the front office got Clayton on a two-way contract, and The Smoking Cuban’s Noah Weber sees him fitting into a future built around Cooper Flagg.
"The Mavericks' backcourt needed one more player who can create for themselves and run the offense, and Clayton looks like the solution to that hole. He looks worthy of a standard contract after just a few games, and he could quickly establish himself as a key piece of Dallas' core if he continues to play this well," Weber wrote.
From Golden State’s side, the missed chance stands out because Clayton would have had a crowded path anyway. He would have been behind Stephen Curry at point guard, just as he is behind returning star Kyrie Irving in Dallas. He also may have been behind Brandon Williams as a lead ball-handler and creator off the bench.
But Saturday’s game in Phoenix showed that Curry is going to sit plenty this season. Even if those games are close to automatic losses, especially with Jimmy Butler still out, that’s exactly the kind of setting where a young player can get real run and grow in front of you.
Instead, the Warriors settled for entering the season with LJ Cryer and Malevy Leons on two-way contracts, while Clayton is already giving Dallas a taste of what they passed on.
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