JULY 13TH, 4:06pm: The deal is official, the team announced via press release.
JULY 6TH, 6:08pm: Leandro Barbosa will re-sign with the Warriors on a one-year, $2.5MM contract, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com tweets. The veteran guard was a key reserve on Golden State’s championship team.
The signing comes as somewhat of a surprise, given that the Warriors have already pushed themselves into taxpayer territory by reaching a long-term commitment with restricted free agent Draymond Green. Currently, the Warriors have approximately $99.3MM in salary commitments when Green’s starting salary of $14.26MM is factored in.
The club only has Non-Bird rights on Barbosa and thus will have to use part of the $3,376MM taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign him. The Warriors can ease their tax burden greatly if they can find a taker for David Lee‘s expiring contract. He’s owed nearly $15.5MM in his remaining year.
The 6’3” Barbosa, who will be entering his 13th season, averaged 7.1 points and 1.5 assists during 66 regular-season games last year and supplied 5.0 points and 0.9 assists per game in 21 postseason appearances. He’ll once again back up Klay Thompson and, at times, Stephen Curry.
Steve Kerr really, really likes Barbosa. I’m surprised he wound up with more than the minimum, especially from Golden State, where every extra dollar is compounded by the tax.