An underwhelming performance in the G League may mean that Alen Smailagic‘s time with the Warriors is close to an end, writes Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. Golden State traded up in the 2019 draft to acquire Smailagic with the 39th pick, but he hasn’t done much to reward the team’s confidence. He appeared in 14 games for the Warriors last year and hasn’t played at all in the NBA this season.
The 20-year-old power forward/center has two years left on his contract, but both are non-guaranteed. A $1,782,621 guarantee for next season kicks in August 7, but Smailagic won’t have much of an opportunity to prove himself before then. The G League season is done and there may be just an abbreviated version of Summer League.
Smailagic suffered a knee injury in training camp that caused him to miss the first two months of the season. He joined Santa Cruz in the G League bubble, but appeared to be out of shape, according to Letourneau. He averaged 7.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 fouls and 2.1 turnovers in 10 games and shot just 15% from three-point range.
“He wants to be a contributor to something really good, but sometimes the timing doesn’t allow for that,” Santa Cruz head coach Kris Weems said. “He probably does need at least another year of development.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors hope James Wiseman‘s missed COVID-19 test was a learning experience for the rookie center, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN. Although Wiseman was cleared for Thursday’s game, coach Steve Kerr kept him on the bench for the first half. “I’m not going to go into detail, but this is all part of development as a young player,” Kerr told reporters. “You’ve got to take care of your business. Everything matters. This was just a reaction to him missing the test and not being able to practice last night.”
- The Lakers‘ injury list continues to grow, notes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Alex Caruso is the latest addition after hitting his head on the floor in Friday’s game and being diagnosed with a concussion. Anthony Davis is still sidelined with a right calf strain and won’t be re-evaluated for two more weeks. Marc Gasol and Kostas Antetokounmpo remain in COVID-19 protocols and have been ruled out for the next two games.
- After leaving Thursday’s game with right knee soreness, Patrick Beverley didn’t accompany the Clippers on their three-game road trip, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Beverley will remain in Los Angeles to get treatment on the knee.
Smiley could be the piece the warriors trade for some help this year. A bad team could play him every day to get him more ready for the NBA. He has flashes of being ready just not consistent in his play.
You could see his offense coming around one of these days, but his defense is another matter… He can’t guard anyone. He’s too slow to react and doesn’t have the foot speed.
Offensively for a 20 year old big man he’s pretty awesome and you could see what the Warriors found to be intriguing. But you’re right arc89, maybe another team can use him as a spark plug offensively Off the Bench.
@Gary you somehow described both Smiley and Wiseman haha
Gary that sounds about right but it’s kind of a distant memory by now, Smails looking good, but apparently he made no growth in this covid-shadowed past year and it may be too late to become a solid defender. Coach Weems mentioned “timing” mysteriously… was he thinking of an event, or the wasted year… rhetorical, likely
No one is giving up anything of value for a struggling g- leaguer.
Not by himself no, but adding him to the Wolves pick might get them a bigger star.
He is real young just drafted last year. He is not a G leaguer but a raw player. have you even heard of him before?
They won’t get anything more than Ben McLemore for Smailagic.
He’s basically a G-Leaguer since he has only played 14 games at the NBA level (138 total minutes) when he managed to stay healthy.
When he was drafted he was drafted as a player that was raw. A lot of players are drafted as projects. You want a player with 0 value you can have Wanamaker. I never said you would get a all star for him.
I still think GSW has the assets to get both Beal and Ingram, as long as Wiseman and the Wolves pick are packaged separately. Additionally GSW also has the $9.2M DPE they could use on any big on a bad team, such as Javale, or even someone better.
Combined with the Warriors babysoft schedule from March 17 onwards, they could easily land in the top 4, regardless of how bad they play today and against the Lakers on Monday and how out of sorts they generally are playing right now – which is entirely due to coach Kerr’s complete incompetence in developing the talent he was given and stubbornness in refusing to change how he uses Steph from “bench him for over half the last quarter” to “bench him when GSW gets up by 10”.
Those “20 games” he claimed he needed to figure it out sure turned to 45 games fast, Kerr is singlehandedly sinking this season for GSW and has gotta go. Steph was never overrated, it’s Kerr who was the only overrated aspect of the GSW dynasty. Promoting Draymond to player-coach will absolutely ensure his bestie LeBron will go to GSW after he’s done with the Lakers too – Lacob will definitely be thinking about this in the coming months…
Brutha you couldn’t pull that off in 2K!
Good luck trading half your team to get two players
“Bestie”? Dray if anything respects him. Struggled with him in finals. They do have the same agent but Dray is a latecomer to Rich Paul. You just make crap up which affects the perception of whatever truth you might slip in there.
And now you’re on the “maybe another team can use him” team, regarding Wiseman. One weird fan. Really just a Curry fan, as you have also said.
Lakers should be looking at Centers. AD and Gasol out they will lose some gms. Lucky their schedule is not really tough. TD they should be looking at Whiteside. They’ll need him for playoffs too.
Hassan Whiteside is the answer I’m more confident of getting him than Andre Drummond!!