While it seemed like the Golden State Warriors had finalized their roster when they signed Brandon Williams and Georges Niang earlier this week, the terms of the deals suggest another tweak or two could remain. Per Michael Scott of Hoopshype, neither Niang nor Williams’ one-year deals are fully guaranteed, leaving space for a dark horse to crack the regular season roster. Per Scott, Niang’s deal is partially guaranteed for about $1.8 million of his $3.9 million salary. Williams’s deal though is fully non-guaranteed.
$1.4 million of his deal becomes guaranteed if he is on the opening night roster. If Williams is on the team through the guaranteed deadline, he will receive a little more than $2.6 million.
Williams and Niang join center Charles Bassey who also does not have a fully guaranteed deal. Bassey agreed to a one-year, $2.85 million deal that only guarantees him $1.4 million. With three players on non-guaranteed deals, the Warriors still have some options to shake up their roster without a trade prior to the start of the regular season, although their second apron hard cap does make it a bit more complicated than it would otherwise.
With zero preseason guarantees, Williams’ spot on the roster is most at risk if he suffers an injury or if a sleeper emerges elsewhere. Waiving Williams prior to the start of the season would allow the Warriors to sign any player to a veteran minimum deal and remain below the second apron hard cap. Waiving Bassey would leave the Warriors with just enough space to sign a rookie. Waiving Niang would not give the Warriors enough space to sign another player at the start of the season, but the Dubs could simply start the season with a 14-player roster and use the savings to sign someone else later on.
Dalen Terry, LJ Cryer, Malevy Leons, Lajae Jones, and Graham Ike currently seem like the most likely players to push the Warriors to shuffle their current plans.
While no deal officially tying Terry to the Warriors has been announced, he’s been seen with Warriors players at several points this offseason and remains unsigned. The 2022 first-round pick out of Arizona remains a free agent but has flashed 3-and-D potential. A 6’6 wing who just turned 24, Terry could be an intriguing rotation piece for Golden State given the injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody if his three-point shot takes a step forward.
Jones, the Warriors rookie second-round pick, fits a similar profile to Terry and thus would be in position to make a similar case for the roster. After an underwhelming summer league, though, Jones would have to be vastly more impressive to justify a roster spot over a two-way deal. Jones’ spot would be in a dicier position if Terry were also two-way eligible, but since he isn’t, Jones’ place somewhere with the Warriors seems secure for the moment.
Cryer and Leons are currently on two-way deals and are very familiar with the Warriors operation. However, since they can both appear in more than 50 games this year if Golden State maximizes their two-way flexibility, it’s hard to see why they would be inclined to add them to the roster prior to the season. In a scenario where Williams was extremely disappointing or injured, they would more likely simply waive Williams to save money and wait until they exhausted either Cryer or Leons’ two-way eligibility to add them to the roster.
Ike is the biggest wild card. A productive collegiate big man who was the most impressive Warriors undrafted free agent summer, Ike seems like a strong two-way option. However, with Jones seeming like the favorite for that spot something has got to give. At the moment, the Warriors would likely risk losing Ike to another team and try to sneak him onto their G-League roster. However, there is a world where he and Jones force the issue to such a degree that the Warriors are unwilling to risk losing either of them. That would force one of the current two-way players, Ike, or Jones onto the regular-season roster and either Williams or Bassey to be waived.
