The Warriors missed out on two big names Friday, but their roster picture still has plenty of room to be shaped.
Klay Thompson was bought out by the Mavericks before he agreed to a two-year, nearly $13 million deal with the Heat. There was a twist in that sweepstakes, too: Thompson actually could have signed with Golden State on a veteran minimum contract, despite the initial belief that he was ineligible under CBA rules. Instead, he took the better payday and the stronger title path in Miami.
DeMar DeRozan made a similar call. He agreed to a veteran minimum contract with the Nuggets, even though the Warriors would have been able to offer him a bigger role. Again, contention won out.
Now Golden State has work to do. The team still has two standard contract spots to fill and one open two-way slot, and the rest of the roster can’t just be patched together by waiting for the market to settle.
One obvious target is Reggie Jackson. He’s the best point guard left on the free-agent market, and the Warriors could use a backup ballhandler.
There’s already been reported interest there. The drawback is clear: Jackson doesn’t give them much from three-point range, and that can create problems in lineups with Draymond Green while also tightening up the offense overall.
For the 14th roster spot, though, the Warriors should swing younger. They need a player with real talent who might be on the edge of a breakthrough season, the kind of surprise impact that Gary Payton II provided in 2021-22.
That same logic applies to the two-way spots. Right now, LJ Cryer and Malevy Leons are on two-way deals, and the Warriors would probably like to keep Cryer, Leons, Graham Ike and Lajae Jones in that mix. But the league only allows three two-way contracts per team, so someone has to move unless Golden State gives one of them a standard deal.
In this scenario, Leons is the odd man out. The Warriors would release him and use the two-way slots on Ike and Jones, giving themselves a group of Cryer, Ike and Jones. Leons’ defensive versatility should make him attractive elsewhere, but the offensive upside just isn’t as strong as it is with the others.
There are still other possibilities in play. Dalen Terry could show up at training camp and earn a spot. Kelly Olynyk could also make the decision tougher than expected.
Between Niang and Olynyk, it’s a tight call, but Niang gets the nod here. The reason is roster balance: if Ike is already in place as a fourth-string center on a two-way deal, then adding Olynyk would push the Warriors to five centers, which is too much even for a team with age and injury concerns.
Niang, by contrast, offers more lineup flexibility. As a stretch-4 who can slide to the 3 when needed, he’d be more likely to see the floor than Olynyk.
In Other News...
Warriors Could Benefit If Detroit Lets Another Young Core Piece Drift
The Pistons have already entered one tricky restricted-free-agency negotiation with Jalen Duren, and another could be waiting right behind it. Detroit has time to work out extensions with its young core, but the clock is now part of the story, especially when teams know these conversations can spill into future roster planning and affect how long a front office can keep everyone in place.
For Golden State, the angle is simple enough: if Detroit cannot lock down every piece of its young group, the Warriors may have a chance to take advantage when opportunity opens up. With cap space to work with, they could be positioned to monitor a situation that goes beyond this summer and into next year, when another important decision could be looming for the Pistons. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Still Have A Big Wing Question Heading Into The Season
The wing depth chart already looked like a spot worth watching in San Francisco, and Moses Moodys injury only sharpens the issue. Moody is expected to miss the first half of the season while recovering from a torn patellar tendon, leaving the Warriors to sort through options before the games start to matter for real. His absence strips away one of the more familiar young pieces on the roster and forces the staff to think a little differently about how it wants to cover size and athleticism on the perimeter.
One name now entering the conversation is Dalen Terry, whom Golden State is reportedly weighing for a training camp spot as a possible stopgap answer. Terry brings a different skill set than Moody, but the overlap in age and physical profile makes him at least a plausible fit for the kind of short-term roster patch the Warriors may need. For a team that always values flexibility, the bigger question is whether the temporary answer can hold up long enough to keep the rotation from feeling Moodys absence too sharply. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Face A Jimmy Butler Decision That Could Reshape Everything
Jimmy Butlers return timeline has started to sharpen the picture for Golden State, and it comes at a moment when the Warriors are already weighing some of the biggest financial questions on their horizon. Butler is on an expiring $56.8 million deal this season, and the front office has to sort through how he fits alongside the roster core while also keeping an eye on the 2027 offseason, when the team could potentially have more cap flexibility.
The complication is that Butlers next contract wont exist in a vacuum. Golden State also has Stephen Currys extension considerations to navigate, and whatever it does with Butler will ripple through the franchises longer-term planning. For a team trying to stay competitive now without boxing itself in later, this is the kind of decision that can shape far more than one season. [Read more 🡒]