Five-year NBA veteran and Hornets camp cut Elliot Williams will sign with the D-League affiliate of the Warriors, his agent tells Adam Johnson of D-League Digest (Twitter link). The Santa Cruz Warriors still hold his D-League rights from his time with their squad last season. The No. 22 overall pick from the 2010 draft went up and down between Santa Cruz and the NBA last season, when he signed five 10-day contracts with three NBA teams.
The Hornets were one of them, and they gave him a partial guarantee of $80K when he signed with Charlotte this past summer. That was slightly more than the $75K the team gave rookie Aaron Harrison, but the team kept Harrison and released Williams at the end of the preseason. Williams saw action in only two preseason games for Charlotte, averaging 5.5 points in 13.0 minutes per contest.
Santa Cruz is also adding Daniel Orton, another former first-round pick who last appeared in the NBA during the 2013/14 season, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). It’s yet more talent for a team that won the D-League championship last spring, matching the NBA title that the parent club won, but Williams and Orton have no direct ties to Golden State and remain free to sign with any NBA franchise.