After the Golden State Warriors heard that five-time All-Star Klay Thompson had ruptured his Achilles, they, what felt like immediately, looked to salvage their season by trading for 25-year-old guard Kelly Oubre Jr.
The season hadn’t even begun, and the Warriors knew if they didn’t make a move they’d be nowhere near title contention. They made the trade, sacrificing their traded player exception they were gifted after dealing Andre Iguodala.
The Golden State Warriors should want to bring Kelly Oubre Jr. back, but that doesn’t mean he’ll want to return to the Bay Area.
Now, Oubre Jr.’s time with Golden State may be just about up. One main reason is the cost to keep him just wouldn’t be viable for the Warriors. Oubre Jr. is expecting to see around $20 million annually, a number Golden State likely can’t even come that close to.
But, there was more than one reason why he may want out.
Oubre Jr. made an appearance on Chris Haynes’ Posted Up podcast to share his feeling about his upcoming free agency and his potential one-year stint with the Golden State Warriors. Let’s just say his comments don’t display a promising relationship between the two sides.
"“Being 25 years old, the way that my career has been shaping out, the growth that I’ve shown in my career to go from the 15th pick to continuously have my numbers grow each and every year and my role and opportunity on the team to grow each and every year, to have a year where my opportunity is lessened, and then as the year goes on I’m put into this category of trying to shape out the future of the organization when I haven’t been given a fair opportunity to show what I can do on a large scale – yeah, it is unfair.”"
Oubre Jr. played well, despite not playing in the play-in tournament due to injury. During his final few weeks battling a wrist injury, Oubre Jr. was sent to the bench. Despite his success there, he clearly wasn’t a fan of the diminished role.
With the Warriors, Oubre Jr. averaged 15.4 points per game, the second-most of his career. It was bound to happen eventually, but this was the first time in his career that his scoring relapsed at all. It was also his first time playing on a team with a player of Stephen Curry‘s caliber.
Coming into the season, Golden State knew that Oubre Jr. was an inconsistent shooter and made his presence felt as a slasher and around the rim. He was made to be a shooter, and it oftentimes was ugly to watch.
Having three non-shooters on the court was rough, and Oubre Jr., when he was open, typically shot. Despite hitting 1.6 triples per game, Oubre Jr. shot under 32 percent, not an ideal rate. That’s part of why Oubre’s place on the second unit saw him increase his efficiency.
Although the two sides may be on the “same page” around wanting a reunion to happen it just doesn’t seem feasible because of both his contract desire and his use by the team last season.