The Competition for Final Roster Spots at Warriors Training Camp
We’re just under a week and a half away from the official start of NBA training camp, occurring roughly a month before the start of the season and a week before the preseason. The Warriors have some questions which they’ll need answered in that timeframe, as they still have two roster spots they need to fill out before the beginning of the season.
Golden State has already been working out a few veterans to possibly make that fit, but as of now, there hasn’t been much traction to bring any of them on for training camp. As it stands, the Warriors have a 13-man guaranteed roster, including two two-way G-League contracts. The roster, as it stands, is:
Starters and key lineups from last year (Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, D. Green, Looney, Poole)
Second-year players and a returning lottery pick (Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody)
A new batch of rookies (Baldwin Jr. and Rollins)
And two veterans who joined in free agency (J. Green and DiVincenzo)
The G-Leaguers are Quinndary Weatherspoon (who occupied a two-way last season and has been phenomenal in Santa Cruz over the past year) and Lester Quinones. Because the two-ways don’t count towards the full roster, the Warriors still have two more spots to fill. One of those could possibly be for Andre Iguodala, who is currently contemplating either a return or a retirement. Per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, however, it appears Iggy will be announcing it sometime soon on his podcast:
Assuming Iguodala does return for one last run, the Warriors will have one open roster spot which they can use on one of the four guys they’ve invited to camp so far: Mac McClung, Jerome Robinson, Pat Spencer, or Trevion Williams. They could also seek to guarantee one of their two-way contracts and sign either Weatherspoon or Quinones to a full deal.
What’s particularly interesting about this group of players is the positions that they fill. Most of these guys are guards, likely with the Warriors aiming to fill a Chris Chiozza-esque rotational position with one of them. The only stand-alone is Williams, who’s a fresh graduate from Purdue and stands at 6’10. Depending likely on how much opportunity they’ll seek to give rookie Ryan Rollins, they could be looking at bringing in Williams as another big body to shore up their frontcourt, especially now that James Wiseman is going to need some readjustment time. He’s a versatile center, and shares some interesting company as one of three players in the last 30 years of the Big Ten to score 1400 points, snag 900 rebounds, and dish 225 assists. The players he joins? Ethan Happ, and Draymond Green.
While Williams brings a size advantage, the Warriors likely have a preference already in mind, and that’s Mac McClung. The G-League rookie of the year last season after spending a few games with the Lakers and Bulls during the regular season, McClung was a standout in Summer League for the Dubs, averaging 13 points, just under 5 assists, and 3 boards a game. The 6’2 guard was a viral dunking sensation in high school, but showcased some impressive on-the-ground guard skill during his mid-summer stint, including a few flashy passes and crafty handles which put his non-aerial athleticism and IQ on display:
So the question has to be asked, if it’s a coin-toss between these two as arguably the best-available to fill the last roster spot (assuming Iguodala comes back), which one should the Warriors take? There’s an argument both ways: Williams adds some frontcourt versatility and could end up being an undrafted gem with his variety of skills, especially as a passer (skilled passing bigs tend to thrive in the Warriors offense) and offensive rebounder. He’s got size at over 250 pounds, and while he doesn’t have much of an outside shot, he’s got plenty of other assets to make up for it. McClung, on the other hand, is an efficient shooter who can score in bunches, giving the Warriors an extra scoring punch. Both are adequate-enough defenders, and their roster positions probably will hole up concerns on that end of the floor, especially given what this Warriors squad is capable of defensively already.
The answer isn’t a clear one, as it really depends on how a few guys, including Ryan Rollins, look in training camp. Unless the team feels like they’re not going to get perimeter production from anyone outside of Steph Curry and Jordan Poole, then the answer is McClung. If Rollins looks solid enough or Moody shows signs of taking the next step, then Williams would likely fit better, and it would bring the Warriors both playmaking and rebounding which will allow them to operate with older systems they had success in with Andrew Bogut (who, ironically, would be an excellent fit with this current iteration of the Warriors).
There is a third option, however, which would involve converting Quinndary Weatherspoon’s contract. Weatherspoon was a standout in the G-League last season and fits a need the Warriors currently have: A 3-and-D guard who can shore up some of DiVincenzo’s minutes. He’s an efficient scorer who can get stops on the perimeter, and while his three-point shooting numbers don’t look great, his free throw percentage and two-point efficiency indicate this may be an anomaly, as the mechanics are there. The Warriors don’t have to worry too much about losing him so long as they utilize his two-way contract in a smart way, but converting his to a full while signing either McClung or Williams (the latter of which has an Exhibit-10 contract which would be easy to convert to a 2-way) could potentially work should training camp yield some results in favor of Weatherspoon. If Iguodala doesn’t return, then both McClung and Weatherspoon could join the full roster while Williams has his Exhibit-10 converted into a two-way.
Amidst all this roster magic, the Warriors official training camp roster should be announced soon, as teams are beginning to look at who they’ll be bringing in to potentially fill spots - which means we’ll likely hear about Iguodala soon enough as well. Training camp begins on September 24th, with the Warriors traveling to Japan for a couple of international games against the Wizards that start on the 30th.
(Photo credit: Garrett Ellwood / Getty Images)