The Golden State Warriors were impressed with Marquese Chriss in his first preseason game. Adding him may force the Dubs to deal Omari Spellman.
There’s no easy way around it. Unless the Golden State Warriors waive a two-way contract to free up a spot, they’ll have to dish out either Alfonzo McKinnie or Omari Spellman.
McKinnie is one of the only players on a non-guaranteed contract while Spellman may have just been an unnecessary addition. It would mainly be McKinnie staying put because of the team’s depth, or lack thereof, at small forward.
The team wants Chriss. For now, that’s all we know. It’s unclear how head coach Steve Kerr feels about the former lottery pick on the roster and who may be caught in the crossfire of a potential Chriss addition.
That said, NBC Sports’ Drew Schiller reported that the team started a “petition” to keep Chriss. Dan Feldman of Yahoo Sports said that an “important voice” urged the Warriors to keep Chriss as well.
Whatever Chriss did in his few weeks in the Bay Area, it worked.
As for the logistics, it seems like there are really one of two people that’d be realistically caught in the crossfire. Damion Lee, who is Stephen Curry‘s brother-in-law and on a two-way contract, or Omari Spellman, who was recently brought in from Atlanta, are the only real options.
Ky Bowman, the second two-way player, is the team’s only backup point guard. If the “Jacob Evans at the backup” experiment fails, they may be counting on Bowman for some quality second-unit minutes.
That said, it seems more and more like Spellman is the odd man out.
Although he lost 40 pounds this offseason, he still didn’t look capable of doing many things necessary things in the team’s first preseason. He wasn’t overly impressive as a defender or as a screen-setter.
If he can’t do those two things, he doesn’t serve a purpose on this roster. Chriss, at the very least, is far more athletic. While he may not be as great of a shooter, he’s clearly a better defensive big, something the Warriors may need more of with the injury to Willie Cauley-Stein.
What’s the value of Spellman though?
It’s certainly nothing more than a second-round pick as far as future assets go. He’s not worth a first, and the Warriors literally cannot take a player back unless they waive a non-guaranteed contract.
At the end of the day, the Dubs will make it work if they truly want to bring Chriss onto the opening-day roster.