The Warriors have made some significant changes to their roster this offseason, drafting Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, trading for Chris Paul, and signing veterans Cory Joseph and Dario Saric in free agency. They also re-signed former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green, and Lester Quinones is back in the fold as well, returning on a two-way deal after accepting his qualifying offer.
In more recent news, the Golden State reached agreements with former Rockets big man Usman Garuba (two-way) and former Hawks wing Donovan Williams (camp deal). Williams will reportedly compete for a roster spot in training camp after impressing the Warriors during scrimmages at their facility.
Once those two deals are official, the Warriors will have 16 players under contract, including 13 players on guaranteed standard deals, with one two-way slot open. Since they’re above the NBA’s second tax apron, they can only offer free agents the veteran’s minimum.
Over the past month-plus, the Warriors have reportedly been holding workouts with a number of veteran free agents. Some of the players mentioned include former Warriors Kent Bazemore and Juan Toscano-Anderson, veteran wings Jaylen Nowell, Will Barton and Stanley Johnson, plus big men Dewayne Dedmon, Tony Bradley and Derrick Favors, among others.
Interestingly, they’re also meeting with free agent center Dwight Howard next week, who is by far the most accomplished player of the group, though he’s also 37 years old and was out of the league last season, having played in Taiwan. An eight-time All-NBA member and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, Howard averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game (60 appearances) for the Lakers in 2021/22.
Golden State will need to add at least one more player to its 15-man standard roster for opening night, with Howard reportedly a “real option” to fill a spot. Due to the Warriors’ luxury tax situation, they might only carry 14 players for most of the season — that’s what happened in ’22/23, as they waited until mid-March to promote Anthony Lamb from a two-way deal. Lamb wasn’t given a qualifying offer this summer, so he remains an unrestricted free agent.
If the Warriors have fewer than 15 players on standard contracts, they’ll only be able to use their two-way players for up to 90 combined games, as we explain in our glossary entry. Having a full 15-man roster and all three two-way slots filled would create more options off the bench, as two-way players are each eligible to appear in up to 50 games.
Williams seems like a decent candidate for the last two-way spot. But the bigger question is, who should the Warriors sign to fill out their standard roster? Head to the comments section and let us know what you think.
Dwight and JTA.
Lol.
Name recognition only. Stop looking backwards. Find a young guy who could be good? You know what Dwight gives you, watch the tape. You know what JTA gives you, you had him 3 years.., and that was 3 years ago. He’s older now ( slower, not as hungry to prove himself, maybe a little more confident in himself and not willing to do everything and anything to stick?) Find a new guy.
The warriors need an older veteran who already knows all the finer points of the game. The absolute last thing they need is another young kid looking to figure it out. In case you missed it, they traded all those guys away this offseason. Howard is exactly what they need. A guy who plays defense, rebounds, and sets picks, and isn’t worried about scoring points to make his big payday. He would play maybe 5-10 minutes a game and would only play based on matchups. The warriors system is the most complex in the NBA and requires guys to be in the system for quite a while before they are up to speed.
Your name change didn’t have any affect on your terrible takes.
If you’re talking about Gary…. well I’ve been on this site for close to 4 years and he’s has the same username. If your referring to who I think you’re referring to, Gary has been probably his 2nd biggest critic behind me.
Menace, you’re the one who changed your username a couple months ago. I’ve been on here 10 years and had to add an X to my username cuz I had trouble with the email log on and all that. But it’s still me.
But anyway I think you’re right… but that’s what the Warriors did with the first five guys coming off the bench. Veterans who know what they’re doing !!
And they didn’t get rid of all their young guys. They still have Moses Moody and Jonathan kuminga. They’ll play Big minutes we hope.
As far as Dwight Howard I’m not sure he ever understood the game.., he was a fantastic physical presence who relied on his athleticism but he was always criticized for his gameplay.
He didn’t like mixing it up or doing the other things big men SHOULD do. A particular player called him soft. Who wants your fourth big guy off the bench to be soft? And not do the things big men are supposed to do.
Did you see Dwight Howard in Asia? No one could tell him what to do so he played like a guard shooting threes and bringing the ball up the floor.
Warriors already had a big man that did not want to be a big man in Chris Webber 25 years ago. Hard no on Dwight Howard absolutely 100%. Name recognition only.
Try this Houston kid or somebody else who falls through the cracks. They’ll be fine.
Oh and lastly that’s fine to criticize.. I don’t mind.., I deserve it mostly. My takes are quite often very crappy. I respect your opinion Menace, you usually have excellent basketball knowledge displayed in your posts.
I think the main thing is, according to Anthony Slater, Dwight would likely get a non-guaranteed contract. This offers a lot of flexibility and is essentially an experiment to see how things go. My first inclination is that we are probably ok with Loon, DPOY, TJD, Saric, Garuba as your defensive 5 rotation (noting that we go small a lot in crunch time) and we might need another wing as time goes by — still would rather have 100% healthy Iguodala than JTA but if it’s a non-guaranteed maybe only JTA accepts that, who really knows? A lot depends on the W-L results and, unfortunately, injuries so ad the saying goes “we’ll see”.
Meh, Dwight looked pretty good in Philly. Yes, that was 3 years ago, but last I checked he still had game. Lots of these guys dont.
It’s just one game, but the highlights/lowlights from his head-to-head vs Sim Bhullar in Taiwan last season were unflattering. I doubt URLs work in these comments but here they are: link to x.com …and if that didn’t work just go to user Lakerschipp on X and search his timeline for Dwight.
Thanks, the link worked for me. That’s what I would expect Howard to look like on the Warriors.
They could of signed Queta but I guess not. Howard is the best option with his age compared to Curry, Thompson and Green
Anyone but Howard. Always injured plus being washed up.
Anyone that’s still available at this point is pretty much washed up.
update: Warriors hosting a workout for former Boston College standout, and former Chicago Bull, Kenny Reeves
Howard can still play and help. As a defensive big and rebounder. Warriors need depth for their bigs.
No, he doesnt fit the culture. He will still be a prima donna and injury proned. There’s no way they will give him a guarantee contract. Maybe camp invite, or 10 day contract down the road.
Slater tweeted it would probably be a non-guaranteed. The fact Dwight’s been reported to be meeting with Kerr and Dunleavy suggests that this is going to be an experiment of sorts. It’s the 14th spot out of 15. It’s low-risk, barring injuries. Let’s just see what happens. Gotta put your faith in the front office at some point. I think we’re doing better than 25+ other front offices. We’re good.
Howard last season was his best shooting percentage from everywhere on the court including the 3
I rather have Blake Griffen than Howard