Golden State Warriors Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Warriors Notes: Thompson, Santos, Staudt

August 31st, 2023 at 2:18pm CST by Rory Maher

Former NBA player Mychal Thompson says his son, Klay Thompson, is in great shape ahead of the 2023/24 season, he tells Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.

“He’ll be back hungrier than ever,” Mychal said of Klay. “He’s two years removed from his serious injuries. He’s been working out like crazy. He looks good, lean and ready to go. I expect him to be at a high All-Star level again. It’s possible. But the West is so loaded with guards. You’re going to have to be hooping out of your mind because all of these guards in the West could make the All-Star team.”

The longtime Warriors guard is entering the final year of his contract, which will pay him $43.2MM this season. Will that be a distraction for Klay?

“He’s not worried about that,” Mychal Thompson told Medina. “He knows he has a job to do with coming into camp in the best shape and having a great year. Everything else will take care of itself.”

The elder Thompson also talked to Medina about Klay’s future with the Warriors, the possibility of his son representing either Team USA or the Bahamas ahead of next year’s Olympics, and other topics. The interview is worth checking out in full if you’re a Golden State fan.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Brazilian forward Gui Santos, who is currently competing at the 2023 World Cup, was the No. 55 overall pick last year by the Warriors. He wound up signing an NBA G League contract in 2022/23 and spent his first season in the U.S. playing for the team’s affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. The 21-year-old added 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and had a strong Summer League showing, but he’s expected to once again play for Santa Cruz in ’23/24, reports Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.
According to Johnson, Santos is currently ineligible for a two-way deal with Golden State because he’s still under contract with Brazilian team Minas. The Warriors could buy out his current deal — which ends after ’23/24 — in order to give him a standard contract, but that isn’t expected to occur, Johnson writes. In other words, Santos likely won’t be making his NBA debut until at least ’24/25.
The Warriors are hiring Wizards scout Jason Staudt to join their front office, league sources tell veteran reporter Marc Stein (Twitter link). Staudt has worked in various roles with several NBA organizations, including the Magic, Blazers, Rockets and Suns.

Pacific Notes: Curry, LeBron, Eubanks, Fernandez

August 30th, 2023 at 7:48am CST by Luke Adams

Asked on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast last week about how long he’ll play in the NBA and whether he envisions himself emulating LeBron James‘ longevity, Warriors star Stephen Curry agreed that he could end up “somewhere in that range.” James will turn 39 in December and is entering his 21st season, whereas Curry is entering his 15th season at age 35.

“I never imagined myself being the 40-plus dude trying to hold on for dear life,” Curry said, per Jordan Elliott of NBC Sports Bay Area. “But who knows what my body will look like or feel like at that point? I got three years left on my deal, including at least that, and then kind of figure it out from there. … I don’t put too much of a timeline outside of my contract now just knowing that will give me 38 and 17 years in the league. I ain’t skipping out to go play golf just yet.”

Regardless of how many years he ends up playing, Curry’s expectation at this point is that he’ll remain with the Warriors for the remainder of his career.

“I am blessed to know and hope that no matter how many years I do play, [I’ll be] playing for one franchise and being a part of that group of the legends that have accomplished that feat and won at the highest level and all that,” he said. “I don’t ever take that for granted either. You got the Kobe [Bryant]’s, the Magic [Johnson]’s, Dirk [Nowitzki], Tim Duncan, those guys helped establish a culture, won, did it with a lot of different roster combinations and different parts in their career.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Former NBA head coach Byron Scott expects LeBron James to surpass 40,000 career points and believes LeBron’s career scoring record will be extremely difficult to top. “I don’t think that’s going to be broken, especially in our lifetime,” Scott told Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (YouTube link; hat tip to HoopsHype). The Lakers forward needs just 1,348 more points to reach 40,000 — he has fallen short of that figure in just one of his 20 NBA seasons (he scored 1,126 in 45 games in 2020/21).
In the second part of his interview with Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (subscriber link), Suns big man Drew Eubanks discussed his preparation for the season, why he views himself as more of a center than a power forward, and the role he expects to play for his new team. “I’m not going to have as much responsibility on the offensive end as it will be on the defensive end,” Eubanks said. “Like I said, we have three elite scorers. … Really where my mark is going to be made is getting them open, rebounding, defending, blocking shots.” We previously passed along some highlights from the first part of Eubanks’ conversation with Rankin.
No World Cup team has registered a better point differential through three games than Canada (+111). The work Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez is doing with the Canadian national team is further strengthening his case to become an NBA head coach, which is expected to happen sooner or later, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

Community Shootaround: Chris Paul

August 28th, 2023 at 9:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Steve Kerr is busy coaching Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. When he comes back and returns to the sidelines for the Warriors, he’ll have an interesting lineup decision.

Golden State still has all of its usual starters — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney — on the roster. It’s a group that won a championship two seasons ago.

The acquisition of Chris Paul now creates a dilemma. The future Hall of Fame point guard has appeared in 1,214 regular season games. He’s started all of them, even during his rookie campaign for New Orleans in 2005/06.

It’s safe to assume Curry and Green will remain in the lineup. Thompson has started every game since his second NBA season. Wiggins went through some personal issues last season but he’s started every game in his NBA career.

Looney would be the logical candidate to lose his starting job, though that would leave the Warriors with an awfully small lineup. Looney’s defense and rebounding are key components to the team’s success. If he comes off the bench, it may be difficult to have both Jonathan Kuminga and free agent Dario Saric in the rotation.

At this stage of his career, Paul might be willing to be a sixth man in order to get that elusive ring he’s been chasing. But it would still seemingly be an uncomfortable spot for a player of his stature.

That brings us to our topic of the day: Should Chris Paul start for the Warriors this upcoming season? If he’s in the lineup, which of the returning players should come off the bench?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Three Candidates To Be Promoted From Two-Way Contracts

August 26th, 2023 at 10:05am CST by Tristan Tucker

While there is still a bit of time before NBA training camps open, we have a good idea of what most team rosters will look like to begin the season. As we recently detailed, 70 of the league’s 90 available two-way contracts are currently filled. Since those players only have $75K in guaranteed money, however, teams have plenty of flexibility to make changes, whether those come in the form of cuts or promotions to standard deals.

Since the inception of the two-way contract in 2017, dozens of players have been called up from two-way deals to standard contracts. Players like Paul Reed, Chris Boucher and Alex Caruso are among the players to cash in their two-way deals into big standard contracts with their impressive play and development over time. The Heat made waves in the 2023 NBA Finals when several rotation players on their team made big contributions, many of whom spent time on two-way deals, including Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin.

While the Heat are an extreme case of two-way players becoming highly paid standard contract players, more and more teams seem to be recognizing the value of these developmental spots. Almost every team currently has a G League affiliate and those who don’t have committed to adding one. And this year, the NBA increased two-way contract spots from two per team to three, creating 30 new roster spots.

As noted above, teams are still figuring out what to do with those spots, but there are currently players signed to two-way deals who seem poised to continue the trend of promotions making an impact. With that said, here are three prime candidates to be elevated from their two-way deals to standard contracts sometime during the ’23/24 season, whether or not it happens during the preseason process.

Lester Quinones

Quinones wasn’t on many public top 100 big boards ahead of the 2022 NBA draft, so it was a mild surprise to see him signed to a two-way contract right after the draft. Though he was signed, Quinones was an example of a two-way player getting shuffled around in the preseason, and he ended up getting cut before the season began.

More roster shuffling occurred in March and Quinones penned a 10-day deal before being signed to a two-way deal to close out the year. During the time in between, the Memphis product put up terrific numbers for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League, averaging 20.2 points in the regular season and showcase and he shot 37.5% from deep on 7.7 attempts. Quinones continued dominating in the summer during Las Vegas Summer League where he averaged 21.2 points and 5.2 assists. The Warriors re-signed Quinones to another two-way deal in late July.

The Warriors have a ton of roster flexibility moving forward. They have just 13 players signed to standard deals and only Quinones occupies a two-way deal. Preseason and training camp seems like an ample opportunity for the 6’5″ guard to reverse his fortunes from a year ago and get promoted to the main roster.

Lindell Wigginton

Like Quinones, Wigginton is a guy who has been lost in Milwaukee’s back-end roster shuffling. Wigginton has been in Milwaukee’s system for two seasons, playing for the Bucks on a two-way deal in 2021/22, not being re-signed, then later being added to another two-way deal at the end of the ’22/23 season.

Wigginton averaged 19.2 points and 5.9 assists last season in the G League across 38 regular season and Showcase Cup games. The 6’2″ lead guard also has 26 games of NBA experience (one start), holding averages of 5.0 points and 1.4 assists.

The Bucks don’t have a logical way to add Wigginton to their main roster before the ’23/24 season begins. Their 15-man roster is set and a trade or cut prior to the season doesn’t seem likely. If the Bucks make a move at the trade deadline, Wigginton could be a logical option to call up if Milwaukee sends out more than they take in. If not, it’s entirely possible the Bucks sign the Iowa State alum to a standard deal in the offseason, much like they did with A.J. Green this year.

Jamal Cain

As we mentioned, Heat players have historically been elevated from two-way contracts. In fact, they’ve promoted a two-way player to a standard deal in every year (or following offseason) since their inception in 2017 (Derrick Jones in ’17/18; Robinson in ’18/19; Chris Silva in ’19/20; Vincent and Strus in ’20/21; Martin in ’21/22; and Orlando Robinson in ’22/23). Cain is the next logical candidate for a promotion.

Cain was reportedly waiting for a standard contract offer before ultimately re-signing with the Heat on a two-way deal earlier this month. The Oakland product impressed last season, averaging 5.4 points in 18 NBA games and 20.5 points in 25 G League games last year.

The Heat are still waiting on the Damian Lillard situation to shake out, but they still only have 13 players signed to standard deals. Miami needs to sign a 14th player prior to the season and Cain would be a logical option if a Lillard trade doesn’t materialize before then. If not, it seems likely they’ll bring him up at some point during the season.

Curry's Trainer On Chemistry Between Curry, Paul

August 25th, 2023 at 5:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Mark Medina of Sportskeeda recently spoke to Stephen Curry‘s trainer, Brandon Payne, about a number of topics, including Curry’s offseason work with new Warriors addition Chris Paul. “It was great,” Payne said. “They are two guys that have the same mindset: ‘We’re here to win, so let’s do it.’ I was very impressed with the instant chemistry those guys had. It was fun to watch. There was so much ball movement. For a pick-up basketball game, that was some of the most impressive ball movement I’ve ever seen.”

And-Ones: Offseason Moves, Coach Contracts, Kerr, Hawaii

August 24th, 2023 at 10:02pm CST by Rory Maher

In a three-part series for The Athletic, David Aldridge ranks the teams that he believes improved the most and least this offseason. Aldridge’s most improved team is unsurprisingly the Spurs, who won the draft lottery and selected French phenom Victor Wembanyama. The Cavaliers and Suns rank Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

In the middle section, Aldridge has the Jazz at No. 11, the Pistons at No. 15, and the Warriors at No. 20. He gives the Trail Blazers an incomplete, since there’s no way to fairly evaluate their offseason until the Damian Lillard situation is resolved.

At the bottom end, the defending-champion Nuggets are No. 29 on Aldridge’s list after losing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green in free agency; the No. 28 team is the Raptors, who lost Fred VanVleet to Houston.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

The contracts signed by Monty Williams and Gregg Popovich will be used as benchmarks by top NBA coaches going forward. As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes, a trio of accomplished head coaches — Steve Kerr (Warriors), Erik Spoelstra (Heat) and Tyronn Lue (Clippers), all of whom are members of Team USA — could be the primary beneficiaries of those deals. Kerr and Spoelstra are entering the final year of their respective contracts, while Lue has two years left on his deal, Windhorst notes.
Kerr has purchased a minority stake in European football (soccer) club Real Mallorca, according to Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez of ESPN. Kerr said he was offered the opportunity by longtime friend Andy Kohlberg, who is the team’s president and recently became majority owner, per ESPN. “Andy Kohlberg and I have been friends for many years,” Kerr said. “We were together this summer. He told me there was a shift in the ownership group and he offered me the chance to be part of the new investment group. I was so excited, having been in Mallorca last summer watching a game, following the team and becoming a fan. It was a really exciting opportunity and I jumped at it.” Mallorca competes in La Liga, Spain’s top league.
The Jazz and Clippers will be playing their first preseason game in Hawaii on October 8, with all proceeds going to the wildfire relief effort, Ryan Kostecka writes for Utah’s team website.

Warriors Notes: McGee, Toscano-Anderson, Saric, Weems

August 23rd, 2023 at 8:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors should consider a reunion with JaVale McGee once he gets waived by the Mavericks, writes Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Dallas reportedly plans to use the stretch provision on the remainder of McGee’s contract, so he would have to be let go before the deadline to do that arrives at the end of the month.

The 35-year-old center spent two seasons with Golden State and was part of title-winning teams in 2017 and 2018. Although he averaged less than 10 minutes per game in both years, he made valuable contributions as a rebounder and rim protector off the bench.

Johnson points out that McGee would be the only seven-footer on a roster that needs size, and his understanding of the team’s culture could give him an edge in filling one of the final spots. With Kevon Looney and Draymond Green handling most of the minutes at center, McGee wouldn’t have to play extensively and he could help tutor young players such as Trayce Jackson-Davis.

There’s more on the Warriors:

Former Golden State players Juan Toscano-Anderson and Kent Bazemore are part of a group that was scheduled to work out for the team this month. If the Warriors are planning to bring back someone who has played for coach Steve Kerr, Johnson sees Toscano-Anderson as the best candidate because he’s younger and more versatile than Bazemore or McGee.
Dario Saric‘s performance in helping Croatia win an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament demonstrated why he was Golden State’s top free agent target this summer, Johnson adds in a separate story. Saric posted 22 points and 11 rebounds in the final game, and Johnson notes that he looked like a perfect fit for Kerr’s system. He seems fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in the 2021 NBA Finals, and he had plenty of experience running the two-man game with new Warriors guard Chris Paul in Phoenix.
Newly promoted assistant coach Kris Weems will have a large role in determining how successful Paul will be in his first year with the team, according to Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. Weems, who was promoted to the front of the bench after two years as a player development coach, replaces Jama Mahlalela, who was responsible for determining who was on the court at any given time.

Curry Believes He's Best Point Man In History

August 22nd, 2023 at 9:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Stephen Curry isn’t being modest about his accomplishments. The Warriors point guard expressed to former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas on a podcast that he’s the best point guard in history. “I have to, yes. It’s me and Magic [Johnson] is that the conversation? Obviously, I have to answer that way,” Curry said, adding, “Magic’s resume is ridiculous. So the fact that we’re having that conversation, that’s the place I never thought I’d be in.” Arenas brought up that Johnson was more of a “point forward” due to his height and that Curry’s style has been more influential when it comes to young kids trying to emulate him, Eurohoops.net relays.

International Notes: Serbia, Bahamas, Gordon, Croatia

August 22nd, 2023 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

The Serbian national team has officially announced its 12-man roster for the 2023 World Cup, which tips off on Friday (Twitter link). The Serbians are missing star center Nikola Jokic, along with accomplished veteran guard Vasilije Micic, who made the move from the EuroLeague to the NBA this offseason.

However, the squad still features multiple current and former NBA players, starting with Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. Heat forward Nikola Jovic, Sixers big man Filip Petrusev, and former Grizzlies guard Marko Guduric are among the notable players representing Serbia at this year’s World Cup.

Here are a few more notes from around the international basketball world:

The Bahmas defeated Argentina on Sunday in the final of an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament, with Suns guard Eric Gordon scoring a game-high 27 points, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Following the Bahamian victory, former NBA forward Andres Nocioni – who won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in 2004 – questioned whether it was fair for FIBA to allow Gordon to suit up for the Bahamas despite representing Team USA earlier in his international career (Twitter link). “Let’s not lose the essence of international competitions,” Nocioni added in a follow-up tweet.
A Croatian team led by Warriors forward Dario Saric and Clippers center Ivica Zubac scored an upset victory over Alperen Sengun and Turkey in the final of another Olympic pre-qualifying tournament on Sunday, as Eurohoops details. Croatia, the Bahamas, Cameroon, Poland, and Bahrain won this month’s pre-qualifying tournament to secure spots in next year’s Olympic qualifiers.
Vangelis Papadimitriou of Eurohoops highlights a handful of non-U.S. NBA players who could be difference-makers in this year’s World Cup, including Canadian forward RJ Barrett and Dominican big man Karl-Anthony Towns.

California Notes: CP3, Curry, Kings, Sabonis

August 20th, 2023 at 2:16pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Longtime rival point guards Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are looking forward to their new status as teammates on a contending Warriors team this year, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

“It’s a beautiful thing about basketball, you can’t write these narratives,” Curry said. “To go full circle, we’ve had a lot of battles over the years. He’s in Year 18, I’m going into Year 15, it’s amazing we have an opportunity to play together, and hopefully win at the highest level. He’s super competitive, and so am I.”

“I’m excited about Steph, Draymond [Green], Klay [Thompson], all the different guys, Wigs [Andrew Wiggins],” Paul said. “I’m excited for us to get together and see what it looks like. It’s just crazy how life works. But when it comes to basketball, I’m probably closest to my happiest. I’m obviously happiest when I’m with my family, but basketball is my safe haven; it’s been that way for a long time.”

Paul, a 12-time All-Star, was sent from the Suns to the Wizards as part of the Bradley Beal trade earlier this summer. The Warriors then traded for the 38-year-old as the centerpiece of its deal to offload Jordan Poole and some other young players.

There’s more out of California:

The new-look Warriors will have to fight to stand out in a crowded Western Conference as they pursue another ring. Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area unpacks 10 key regular season bouts that he believes will serve as a critical proving ground for Golden State.
After finishing with the West’s third seed while returning to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, the revitalized Kings be featured prominently on national TV this season. According to James Ham of ESPN 1320 (Twitter link), the club will play six regular season contests on TNT, five on ESPN and 11 on NBA TV. Ham adds (via Twitter) that 16 of those 22 national bouts will be played in Sacramento.
Kings All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis is looking forward to the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament, as he told Kyle Irving of The Sporting News. “It’s another chance to win something,” Sabonis said. “In international basketball, these cups in the middle of the season are big. They mean something. And then history happens and it’s important. “I feel like this year, if people aren’t on board at the moment, once that first champion wins, everyone is going to be like, ‘Oh, I want that next year.’ It’s only going to get better and better.”