Free Agent Notes: Bonner, O’Bryant, Warriors

After spending the first two seasons of his NBA career in Toronto, sharpshooting big man Matt Bonner has played for the Spurs for the last decade. However, Bonner is not currently under the contract with the team and doesn’t sound overly optimistic about returning to San Antonio for the 2016/17 season (hat tip to Jeff Garcia of Spurs Zone).

“Currently they haven’t signed me,” Bonner said of San Antonio, during a segment on Concord News Radio (SoundCloud link). “Unless something changes going into the season, I would probably not be with the Spurs.”

While Bonner may not re-sign with the Spurs, he continues to work out and is hopeful for another opportunity with an NBA team, intending to exhaust every option before moving on to the next stage of his life: “If nothing happens and I know for sure it’s over that I’m not going to be playing again, then I can walk away at peace.”

Here’s more on a few free agents around the league:

• A second-round pick in the 2014 draft, Johnny O’Bryant was recently waived by the Bucks and finds himself out of work. However, O’Bryant and agent Gerald Collier are optimistic that they’ll find a new home for the young forward as Collier tells Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times. “We’re still exploring our options,” Collier said. “There are four or five teams that are showing interest. We want to get a roster spot, a guaranteed deal… Our goal is stay in the league. Johnny has improved in each season he’s been in the NBA and he’s still young; he just turned 23 (on June 1). We have received a lot of positive feedback, so we’re staying patient. We’ll see what happens.”
• Former Kings big man Donte Greene, a 2008 first-rounder who last played in 2012, is still hoping to get one more shot at an NBA roster, writes Brian Rzeppa of D-League Digest. Greene describes himself as “hungry as ever” as he attempts to get back on the radar of NBA teams. “I’m just older, more mature and smarter,” Greene said. “I was young in Sacramento and I was kind of in college mode with partying and it hurt me, it hurt my reputation in the NBA and I haven’t had the chance to show that I’m older now and more focused and know what it takes to succeed not only in basketball but in life.”
• In an Insider-only ESPN.com piece, Jeremias Engelmann and Steve Ilardi outline their picks for the eight best free agent signings of the NBA offseason. Three of those signings were completed by the Warriors, with Kevin Durant, Zaza Pachulia, and David West all making the cut. The Suns‘ addition of Jared Dudley and the Raptors‘ signing of Jared Sullinger are among their other picks.