3 players identified as ‘affordable depth’ for Golden State Warriors in free agency
The Golden State Warriors have some roster bolstering to do this offseason, a task made all the more difficult by an exorbitant payroll and little to work with when free agency kicks off at the end of the month.
Coming off the NBA championship in 2022, the Warriors didn’t quite get their free agency additions spot on during last year’s period. Donte DiVincenzo proved to be a more than valuable acquisition, but JaMychal Green and franchise legend Andre Iguodala failed to have any consistent, meaningful impact on the floor.
The Golden State Warriors will rely on their championship pedigree to convince impactful veterans to join them in free agency this summer.
With limited financial capacity, Golden State will once again need to target specific free agents to address their needs. The issue is they don’t have one particular hole but rather could do with added depth at all three frontcourt positions.
In focusing on ‘1 Hole Every NBA Team Can Fill In 2023 Free Agency’, Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz has identified the Warriors’ need for ‘affordable depth’, offering up three names to potentially watch out for in the coming weeks.
"“Golden State will need to search for additional help who will agree to play for the veteran’s minimum, selling players on the chance to win a championship instead of cashing in elsewhere”, Swartz wrote. “This means vets who are nearing the end of their careers but can still play postseason minutes when called upon. Players like Green, Love and Hill would all fit this bill, if they’re willing to take a pay cut, of course.”"
The obvious issue here is that both Jeff Green and Kevin Love are already on championship contending teams, having just faced off against each other in the NBA Finals. Green, in particular, has just won his maiden championship and having spent two years in Denver, there’s no real reason he’d depart for Golden State next month.
Love was vaguely linked to the Warriors after he was surprisingly bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers mid-season. While there’s more chance of Golden State signing him than Green, most would expect Love to run it back with the Miami Heat after playing 18 minutes per game during the postseason.
Hill is certainly the most realistic option of the trio, though only because he’s the least attractive of the options and is clearly the one the Warriors need the least. He played 46 games for the Milwaukee Bucks and then Indiana Pacers in 2022-23, and although he can serve a role during the regular season, at 37 years of age it’s difficult envisaging him as a playoff contributor again.
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Golden State’s pressing needs sits in the frontcourt, rather than adding to a plethora of guards/wings that include Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo (likely to depart), Gary Payton II, Moses Moody and Ryan Rollins. Although Love and Green may be on the wishlist, it’s hard to see the Warriors stealing one of them from the NBA Finalists.