3 reasons Robin Lopez is the Golden State Warriors perfect buyout target

Why Robin Lopez is Warriors perfect target: Role

Outside of one season in which he averaged a low 14.5 minutes per game with the Milwaukee Bucks, Lopez has seen his minutes decline in each of his past five seasons. As he’s aged, he’s lost minutes to younger, up-and-coming big men.

He’s slowly getting used to a more specialized role, one which is more focused on mentorship and less about high-level on-court impact.

While Lopez should still be expected to make an impact with Golden State, he won’t be getting more than two quarters per game unless Looney finds himself missing actions; however, he hasn’t needed minutes to have that impact.

Although his minutes are less, Lopez’s per-36 minute averages have largely remained the same as he’s averaged between 13.4-17.1 points per 36 minutes over his last 5 seasons.

That’s around what he should be expected to give Golden State, and given that his skill set isn’t that of a high-volume scorer, he should be able to settle into a pick-setting, rim-protecting role relatively easily.

That’s what he does best and exactly what the Warriors would need from him.