The Golden State Warriors are going to have only a few question marks as they enter the 2022 offseason following their fourth NBA Champions in eight seasons. One of them is going to be their bench unit, many of which were key contributors to their NBA Finals run.
Otto Porter Jr., Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II all may have expressed a reasonable desire to stick around in the Bay Area, but considering what other teams may be willing to pay them, keeping those contributors may not be in the budget.
The Warriors are going to be a player in free agency for veterans looking for a late-career ring, and Carmelo Anthony could be a name to keep an eye on.
Although we’ve seen Joe Lacob willing to spend deep into the luxury tax, the cost of a player like Porter Jr. who could go from under $3 million per year to to over $5 million may not be worth it from a business perspective.
That is especially true if they could bring in the likes of a Mo Bamba or a more veteran-level player for less.
Where would that leave the Warriors? The likely names to sign elsewhere are Porter Jr. and Looney with Payton II seemingly more likely to stay with the only NBA team that gave him a chance to shine.
Assuming Porter Jr. heads elsewhere, the Warriors could be a promising destination for Carmelo Anthony. A first-ballot Hall of Famer when he decides to hang it up, Melo is a former scoring champion. He spent last season with the Lakers.
After Anthony seemed likely to have his career coming to a close, he revived it. Anthony played 10 games during the 2018-2019 season but bounced back with 58 games played the following year, averaging 15.4 points per game.
He’s bounced around from Oklahoma City, Portland and Houston, spending last season with the Lakers who missed the playoffs. He shot 44.1% from the field, his best percentage since his All-Star season in 2014 with New York.
Now, he is a liability defensively, so that is something the Warriors would have to be okay with and likely cause Anthony to get fewer, if any, minutes in the playoffs.
Anthony isn’t done yet, and being a double-digit scoring that can be relatively efficient off the bench would be huge for Golden State. He’s certainly a name that could come up when talking about which veteran’s the Dubs will add over the next few months.