After securing the signature of Brandon Williams, the Golden State Warriors inked former Iowa State forward Georges Niang to a one-year deal. Niang has nine seasons of NBA experience, four of which came with the Utah Jazz. In 544 career games, Niang holds averages of 7.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, one assist, 0.3 steals and 0.1 blocks. He is a long-range threat, however, holding a career 3-point percentage of 39.9%. Niang missed the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from a stress reaction in his left foot.
While the "Minivan" does bring valuable experience, his fit and lack of defensive versatility make the signing somewhat questionable. Listed at 6'6", Niang is quite undersized for his position (power forward). He is too small to play as a small-ball
center and isn't athletic enough to guard opposing small forwards. Not to mention, the Warriors have plenty of candidates who could log minutes at the four, including Kristaps Porzingis, Draymond Green, Al Horford and even Yaxel Lendeborg at times. For these reasons, signing a true three to backup Lendeborg and Gui Santos would have been sensible. Or, considering that both Horford and Porzingis missed a substantial amount of time due to injury last year, a center to backup them and support Charles Bassey could have been a worthy investment as well.
Overall grade: B
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This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Grading Golden State's signing of free agent forward Georges Niang
