Brandon Williams doesn’t look like the kind of signing that changes a team’s identity on paper. But for the Warriors, that might be exactly the point.
Golden State spent the summer bringing in a guard who does the thing the roster has been short on: he gets downhill, turns the corner, forces help and lives in the paint. Williams signed a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum deal, and the fit is obvious in the areas that matter most to this group.
The Warriors were near the bottom of the league last season in drives, free-throw attempts, points via drives and rim frequency. Williams does the opposite of that.
He attacks.
Gary Payton II knows it better than most. Their time together with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022 came with plenty of practice battles, and Payton said he’s happy to have Williams on his side now.
"It's good to have him on my side, for sure," Payton said at the team's media day.
Williams brings a style Golden State has been missing: a quick guard who can create pressure off the dribble and make defenses collapse. Last season, his 6.8 points via drives per game would have led the Warriors, and his 10.8 drives per game would have ranked behind only Butler. With Dallas, more than 64% of his shots came in the paint, and he finished 64% of his attempts at the rim.
That kind of rim pressure matters for a Warriors team that has not had a reliable bench guard filling that lane-finding role in years. The closest comparison, in terms of creating offense by getting to the basket, might be Jordan Poole.
The catch is that Williams is not coming in as a shooter. He shot 23.2% on a little over two threes per game last season, and Steve Kerr has already made it clear he wants the 6-foot-2 guard to keep those looks coming.
Kerr wants confidence from him there. At the same time, the Warriors need Williams to stay true to what makes him dangerous.
Surround him with four credible three-point threats, and the paint opens up. That’s where he does his best work.
Defensively, he doesn’t jump off the page, but he also shouldn’t be a liability. His 6-foot-6 wingspan gives him a chance to bother ballhandlers and get deflections.
For Golden State, the appeal is simple: Williams can give the team a different look when Steph Curry sits, or if the 38-year-old misses time while managing the knee injury that cost him 39 games last season. Williams described that role clearly.
"Coming off the bench and bringing something that he (Steph) doesn't, doing the stuff that he doesn't," Williams said when asked about his role with this team. "We know that he can shoot threes from near anywhere on the court, but for me just getting into the paint and letting my ability dictate what to do."
Last season in Dallas, he averaged 13 points and 3.9 assists in 22.2 minutes over 66 games. Along the way, he picked up lessons from Jason Kidd, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. Now he’s in a spot where those reps can matter for a team that still expects shot creation from its supporting cast.
Golden State already saw what Williams can do when he gets rolling. On Christmas Day, he carved up the Warriors for a season-high 26 points on 75% shooting, got to the line nine times and kept the ball moving.
Draymond Green even dared him to shoot a three, and Williams banked it in. A month later, he did it again, scoring 19 points on 70% shooting and showing the full package.
His path to this point wasn’t smooth. Williams went undrafted in 2021 after one college season at Arizona in 2018-19.
A knee injury wiped out the 2019-20 season, and he spent the next year rehabbing and training back home in Southern California. That’s where he crossed paths again with De'Anthony Melton, his high school teammate at Crespi Carmelite High School.
They won back-to-back state championships together, and now they’re sharing an NBA locker room years later. Williams said that familiarity has already helped.
"It's good to have someone that has already been here, knows the system here and kind of teach me things that they've been learning," Williams told 95.7 The Game. "We talk every day, probably too much, but it leads onto the court. When I get in the paint, I know exactly where he wants the ball, he knows where I'm gonna pass it from, it's a good little deal that we got going."
Back in California and with a fresh chance, Williams says the priority is straightforward.
"First and foremost, I want to win," he said at his media day press conference. "I haven't been on a winning team, I don't think, ever in my career."
He also said he was surprised by the projections around this Warriors group, and with the way he plays, he may end up helping explain why.
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