The Warriors have one big name at the top of the board, but Quinten Post’s restricted free agency is now part of the equation too.
Golden State’s priority after the first day of free agency is still signing LeBron James, yet the front office has another decision to monitor as rival teams take a closer look at Post. The seven-footer has largely flown under the radar, but that changed once outside interest surfaced and made his situation more relevant to the Warriors’ cap planning.
The Warriors extended a qualifying offer to Post to make him a restricted free agent, which gives Mike Dunleavy Jr. and the front office the chance to match any offer sheet he receives. According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, Post still has support inside the organization despite a quiet finish to his second season. Fischer also noted that an outside team could try to complicate Golden State’s finances while the Warriors wait on James.
..."It's been described as quite possible that a front office out there could elect to sign Post to an offer sheet over the holiday weekend and inject another complicated variable to the Warriors' accounting as they await James' free agency decision," Fischer wrote.
That’s the tension here for Golden State: every dollar matters if the team is going to land James and still fill out the rest of the roster. The Warriors may not have planned on another team going beyond the $2.6 million qualifying offer, but that possibility is now on the table.
Even so, the franchise is not expected to let a third-string center derail its pursuit of James. If the numbers get tight enough, Golden State could simply decide it can’t pay Post above the qualifying offer and let him move on.
There’s a reason other teams are interested. Post showed real value as a rookie, when he stepped in as a floor-spacing big and hit 40.8% of his 3-pointers, a useful weapon for a modern NBA center. The defense was a question then, but he appeared to make progress on that end early in his second season.
The tradeoff was his shooting fell off to 33.6% from deep in year two. Still, if Post can pair the defensive gains he showed with the kind of perimeter touch he had as a rookie, he remains the type of rotation big who can stick around in the league for a long time.
Golden State could still have him back as its third center next season. But if the Warriors have to choose, the James chase is the clear centerpiece, and Post is not likely to stand in the way.
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