JULY 23: Quinones’ new two-way deal is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
JULY 21: Lester Quinones will remain with the Warriors on a two-way contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. He will be given a “strong opportunity” to earn a standard deal in training camp, Charania adds.
The 22-year-old guard signed a two-way deal with Golden State last summer after going undrafted out of Memphis. He appeared in just four NBA games as a rookie, spending most of his time in the G League.
Quinones was a standout with the Warriors’ Summer League team, averaging 21.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in seven games between Las Vegas and the California Classic.
Golden State extended a two-way qualifying offer to Quinones in late June. That offer gives the player an option to return to his team on a two-way contract for another season with a small guarantee.
The Warriors don’t have any two-way players currently under contract, so they will still have two spots open once Quinones’ deal becomes official.
Other teams will regret not signing him to a standard contract when they had the chance. That’s all it would have taken.
Yeah it’s similar to Kenny Lofton Jr last year.
Quinones is a gunner in the Poole mold. He bay get some minutes early in the season but if he can’t provide any defense and only chuck’s it up he’s in, he won’t last in kerrs plans.
My source don’t miss!!
Gui Santos next
Huh? What source? It is obviously not with the Warriors. You make so many mistakes. It is pretty laughable.
Cope
Adam Copeland?
@claude Raymond having Adam Copeland as a source would bring a bit of an……..EDGE
It is pretty much a forgone conclusion that he would sign with the Warriors. Since the Warriors had already 2-way QO, it would probably have taken a Standard Contract to pry him away. Most teams are at their limits for Standard Contracts, it is highly unlikely that they would cut a player for a 23 year old with only G-League experience. Besides, he has already said, despite the Warriors having the worst HC in NBA history, in Steve Kerr, he likes it here.
Only way Santos leaves if it is in Europe. I see him getting a 2 way deal before the season with warriors. Could see him being in a full contract next season. Needs to work on defense and rebounding but the offense has improved.
It’s pretty obvious the Dubs will be going with 2 of Quinones, Santos, Jayce Johnson, or Jerome Robinson on the 2-way… best case scenario is to have a combo guard like Quinones, a combo forward like Santos, and a homegrown/Santa Cruz 7ft-er in Jayce Johnson.
However, the stretch in that equation is Johnson, not Santos. Will Santos and Quinones play 40-50 games like Ty Jerome and Anthony Lamb did last year? Probably not. But just because they gave big minutes to 2-way guys last year doesn’t mean they’ll continue to zig when the rest of the league zags, and in all likelihood the 2-way guys will be garbage time/injured roster type of bench dudes. Santos is a prime candidate to replace Baldwin Jr’s minutes as they’re both forwards, and Lester would be used likely just a tad more than Ryan Rollins was last year, as Cory Joseph is the Ty Jerome upgrade/replacement, with CP3 hopefully getting the brunt of the backup PG minutes, but to say the Quinones on a 2-way was anything but obvious is a tad silly.
Jayce Johnson is 25. A real center
Get Santos and Jessup guy next year
The internet?
Steph you said he would take a roster spot. He’s going to have to earn it in camp and all they offered him was a two-way deal. I think your sources need a little work.
Here’s what my sources say. Lester Quinones is a terrific player has a good chance to make the team in training camp. He actually has a little Jordan Poole in him. Maybe even a better defender, which I guess isn’t saying a whole lot lol.
As far as Gui Santos, he will NOT be with the team this coming season. He’ll take one more year maturing either in the G League or where he played last year.
When Klay Thompson’s contract expires next season, there will be plenty of playing time and money to go around. Gui Santos will step up at that time. Not before.
You may want to write all this down Steph 8 rings.
Santos looked great with the ball. But very poor on D and only got a rebound when it came right to him. Would watch a missed shot but didn’t position himself to get the rebound. They traded that guy to Wizards
Quinones looks pretty talented as a scorer, but I’d like to see him more against NBA opponents before I judge him there. On this other hand, his defense is bad. While the SC Warriors weren’t a good defensive team, Quinones wasn’t a positive even then. It’s not necessarily surprising to me that he didn’t get a standard contract offer from anyone. Good for a two-way slot, though. The upside is worth gambling on.
He does try to take like 7 charges a game and has decent size and length for the position. He works hard but needs more practice.
I don’t question his effort (he’s very impressive from a makeup standpoint), but even in college he had serious issues on defense. His sophomore season, he looked somewhat promising, but a lot of that was Memphis being the second-ranked defense in the NCAA. And in his junior year he started gambling for steals instead of trying to make the right read, which I think really set him back.
Quinones has the tools, but his defensive instincts are lacking. It’s going to take more than practice; he needs to actively work on improving his actions and awareness on D if he wants to show results there. Last year and in summer league, it’s mostly been him showing that the reports on his offense were accurate. Which is great! But I don’t think the defense is just an effort problem. The Toronto game in the Summer League showed that he has potential as a defender, though. Three steals and two blocks with impressive physicality.
Well, ya know. Steph Curry is not exactly a defensive demon. His early career defensive liabilities made him a trade candidate. But, he learned not to be embarrassing on the floor. I’m not saying Lester is the 2nd coming. But, from interviews, he doesn’t sound like a guy who takes things for granted. It will be interesting to see how he grows.
Agreed, just saying that he’s not at the point of not being embarrassing yet, and that’s why he had to settle for a 2-way instead of a standard contract. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he became even an above-average defender if he put his back into it.
I did notice in the summer league his defense was costly. Too many times I seen him in the wrong place or the offensive ball handler getting by him. Still young enough to improve.
Yeah, I thought that LQ would sign; not a great earth-shaking move…and yet, has some potential to get that 14th/15th standard contract. We still need a defensive minded 4/5. Christian Wood would be nice but I don’t believe they’d get him versus other suitors. Rudy Gay?
Warriors aren’t going to give Lester a standard roster spot, they never were. He’s simply not good enough to justify the extra tax it would cost them.
Christian wood will never be a warrior, he’s allergic to defense and that’s all the warriors want out of his position.
Far from the “worst coach in the league”, Steve Kerrs system has revolutionized the NBA and made the ISO- ball hog game go the way of the dodo bird. Not hard to figure out. It’s a combination of all his previous jobs, San Antonio- fundamentals and team oriented basketball, Arizona- pace of play, bulls- how to manage ego. Steve Kerr revolutionized the NBA and is the greatest coach in the league. (Let’s face it, Pop has lost a step.)
Steph’s defense was never a reason he was almost traded, it was always his ankles. Always. He wasn’t even that bad of a defender, he just played with klay who was the best on ball defender of that era, and Draymond who’s still the best off ball defender, which made everyone else look bad by comparison.
So many kids on this board who don’t have a clue.
Amen brother, great post. If you want truth read this post again. It’s all here. Then ignore all the other posts that are horrible including the guys that give a thumbs up on their own posts lol.
I second that amen Menace
Actually these guys are not kids. I find that most posters are older because they have more time to do this kind of stuff. Kids are busy schooling and working and living life outside of the internet. When I think a guy is 32 or 28 he’ll come back and say no I’m 50 LOL
I was being sarcastic about Kerr being the worst coach in the NBA. Ellis and Curry did have some struggles defensively.
Go with Jayce Johnson