As has become a September tradition, the Golden State Warriors’ practice facility is currently filled with high-energy scrimmages on a regular basis, mixing roster spots with younger players and veteran free agents still looking for a camp invite. Justin Holiday and Nassir Little, league sources said The Athleticsis among the several experienced wings who have shuffled through San Francisco in recent weeks.
Three Septembers ago, this process led to a training camp invite for Avery Bradley and a legitimate chance to make the roster. He almost did. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green pushed for it. But Gary Payton II, with a powerful preseason cameo and the support of the front office, beat Bradley out for the 15th spot and quickly became a rotation fixture.
Rudy Gay was the big veteran name that stuck last September. Players raved about his presence in preseason. But Gay was cut loose before the roster was finalized. The Warriors instead opted to enter the season with just 14 roster players and the extra third two-way contract, a predictable outcome considering the extra bit of luxury-tax savings the vacancy provided.
As 2024 training camp approaches, there’s even less drama about the Warriors’ open 15th spot. It will not be filled. Because of the new collective bargaining agreement rules, it can’t. Because of the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade that brought back Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield, the Warriors locked themselves into the newly created first apron. The team’s collective salary cannot exceed $178.1 million. They are currently less than $1 million below it, leaving no room for a 15th player.
That’s the reality any veteran free agent — like Holiday, Little or someone like Kevin Knox, who flashed at times for the Warriors’ summer league team — must face when deciding whether to pursue a camp invite from the Warriors or elsewhere. The path to a regular-season berth is blocked.
However, it is not impossible. There is a level of flexibility. Two of the 14 current rosters of the Warriors are in non-guaranteed contracts: Gui Santos and Lindy Waters III. If a player lit it up enough for the Warriors in camp and preseason, the front office could switch out Santos or Waters for them.
But that will be a high bar to clear. The Warriors put a lot of development time into Santos, who they drafted 55th overall in 2022, and started to see NBA results from last season. He helped them win a pair of road games in Indianapolis and Brooklyn (famously closing in on Thompson) and carried that momentum into the Olympics for Brazil. Waters, meanwhile, was identified as a bargain target before the draft and the Warriors traded the 52nd pick to get him from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Golden State views him as a capable edge rotation option.
So not much roster movement or drama is in store for the Warriors come October. They are still finalizing which young players (ticketed to Santa Cruz) and a possible veteran or two they want to bring into camp. The only extra business to finalize is regarding their draft pick.
After trading the 52nd pick with Waters, the Warriors actually bought it back from Portland and selected Quinten Post, a 7-foot tight end out of Boston College. Even his cheaper rookie deal wouldn’t fit under their financial constraints, so Post is expected to be on a two-way contract to open next season.
The current problem: all three of the Warriors’ two-way contracts are filled by Pat Spencer, Reece Beekman and Daeqwon Plowden, who was excellent for the Warriors in summer league, powering his way into their plans. The Warriors must release one of those three from their two-way deal in the coming days to make room for Post, who is still very much in their two-way plans.
(Photo by Joe Lacob and Mike Dunleavy: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
