The Golden State Warriors’ search to fill out their roster took a big step on Tuesday with reports the franchise will hold workouts with six free agents over the next two weeks.
First announced by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Warriors will have a private look at veterans Kent Bazemore, Tony Snell, Dion Waiters, Trey Burke and Juan Toscano-Anderson, along with younger big man Harry Giles III.
While it’s difficult to envisage too much impact from any of the six free agents, there’s a couple who could prove savvy additions to the Golden State Warriors.
It’s a big opportunity for the six-man group who will have the chance to push for a spot in training camp. Golden State are scheduled to play in five preseason games where players may be vying for the franchise’s currently vacant 14th roster spot.
Let’s rank the six players the Warriors will hold workouts with in likelihood of earning a roster spot with the team for next season:
6. Trey Burke
A 6’0″ score-first point-guard isn’t the type of player the Warriors need, even if Burke has made a decent career from his ability to put the ball in the basket. Originally drafted ninth overall in the first-round of 2013, the 30-year-old’s most recent NBA stint came with the Dallas Mavericks in the 2021-22 season.
Burke played with the Stockton Kings in the G League last season, averaging 15.5 points on 45.1% shooting from the floor and 42.4% from three-point range. He also shot over 90% from the free-throw line, had a good assist-to-turnover ratio, and recorded a positive plus-minus.
Other teams may be able to utilize Burke as a bucket-getter in short bursts, but with Stephen Curry, Chris Paul and Cory Joseph, Golden State are well stocked for experienced guards. If they ever got to a desperate point where Burke was needed for genuine minutes, there’d be much better off giving the experience to rookie guard Brandin Podziemski.
5. Dion Waiters
Much like Burke, Waiters is a score-first guard with an element of playmaking ability. He’s a more credentialed player though, having averaged double-digits in scoring on seven different occasions and having averaged over 28 minutes per game across the course of his career.
Inefficiency has always been the issue for Waiters on the floor — he shoots just 41.2% from the floor and 34.6% from three-point range on his career. Defense has never been a strong facet either, with Waiters having never recorded a positive defensive box plus/minus according to Basketball Reference.
There’s also concerns with Waiters as a cultural fit given his previous off-court misdemeanours, including multiple team suspensions during his time with the Miami Heat. The 31-year-old would probably be a better option than Burke as a spark plug off the bench, but he’s still not someone Golden State are likely to invest in.
4. Kent Bazemore
Bazemore has the added factor of having experience within the Warrior system, playing with the franchise on two separate occasions. The 34-year-old began his NBA career with Golden State in 2012, playing 105 games before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2014.
He returned as a free agent in the 2020 offseason, becoming a key rotation member for Steve Kerr across a year that had plenty of ups-and-downs. On the surface Bazemore was solid, shooting a career-high 40.8% from three-point range and averaging 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes per game.
He became a starter in the wake of a late season injury to Kelly Oubre Jr., helping the Warriors to a strong 15-5 record over the last 20 games before they were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament.
Yet in the midst of some good, there was also plenty of bad that led to constant frustration among Warrior fans. Bazemore was prone to ill-advised shots, dumb turnovers and low IQ defense, meaning Golden State weren’t overly concerned with losing him to the Lakers in free agency.
The Warriors have prioritized high IQ players in their offseason moves to date, so re-acquiring Bazemore would probably be a move back in the other direction. He’d theoretically be a better fit than Burke and Waiters, but it’s unlikely the Warriors revert back to having him on the roster.
3. Tony Snell
Standing at 6’6″, Snell has been the prototypical 3-and-D wing across the course of his nine-year career. While he’s always been an efficient shooter, including a 50-40-90 season with the Atlanta Hawks in 2020-21, it’s always come on a low volume.
Snell’s best season came in 2016-17 when he averaged 8.5 points and 3.1 rebounds as a starter for the Milwaukee Bucks. He played for the Maine Celtics in the G League last season, averaging 10.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 43.2% from the field and 39.2% from three-point range.
The 31-year-old is a career 39.4% three-point shooter and has some size to battle against wings on the perimeter. Snell could theoretically work well playing alongside the likes of Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, though the Warriors probably have his potential role pigeon-holed for Moses Moody. He wouldn’t be an exciting signing by any means, but Snell would make more sense than the likes of Burke and Waiters, and is a few years younger than Bazemore.
2. Harry Giles III
Giles has two elements going for him that the other five don’t — he’s a center and is still eligible for a two-way contract. While the other five are all veterans in their thirties, Giles is 25-years-old and is yet to enter the prime of his career.
The 6’11” big man has played in 142 NBA games over his three seasons, averaging 5.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 12.9 minutes. His last stint came with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2020-21 season, with further injuries having cruelled his G League chances more recently.
With the Warriors needing more center depth behind Kevon Looney and small-ball options in Draymond Green and Dario Saric, Giles is clearly the best positional fit of the six players in this group.
The unproven nature of Giles means it would be risky and probably unlikely to see him on the Warriors’ main roster. However, with a pair of two-way spots available, he does have an opportunity here to push his case for a more prolonged shot with the franchise.
1. Juan Toscano-Anderson
Of the six players the franchise plan to hold workouts with over the next two weeks, Toscano-Anderson would have to be the clear preference among Warrior fans. Having been born in Oakland, he is a loved figure in the Bay Area whose story is one of perseverance and hard work.
Toscano-Anderson didn’t get his first opportunity in the league until Golden State’s disastrous 2019-20 season where he averaged nearly 21 minutes in 13 games. He clearly showed enough for the franchise to want to see more, with the 6’6″ forward winning a two-way contract with the team ahead of the 2020-21 season.
In May 2021 Toscano-Anderson was converted to a standard contract and the following season appeared in 73 games during the Warriors championship year. He averaged 4.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 13.6 minutes per game, before appearing in 14 games during the postseason.
Toscano-Anderson signed with the Los Angeles Lakers last offseason in a move that failed to reap too many benefits for either player or franchise. He was traded to the Utah Jazz in February, playing 22 games but without any great impact.
The 30-year-old’s spot as the number one option here isn’t because of his on-court contributions. The reality is that these six players are all fairly uninviting, and none of them are likely to offer too much on the hardwood for the Warriors next season.
While Toscano-Anderson’s impact from an off-court cultural perspective is hard to value, there’s little doubt the franchise lost something with his departure 12 months ago. He brought a joy and infectious attitude that Golden State lost and were never able to rediscover in a tumultuous 2022-23 season.
On the court Toscano-Anderson could actually be the kind of forward insurance the Warriors need. He knows the system and is a well respected teammate — needing 5-10 minutes from him every so often shouldn’t be a disaster.
At the same time, he’s not the sort of player that’s going to demand playing time over the likes of Jonathan Kuminga who Golden State want to provide opportunities for next season. A bigger name veteran may do that, potentially stalling the third-year forward’s development and/or impacting team chemistry negatively.
Toscano-Anderson is the ultimate professional and bringing him back into the fold may prove an undervalued winning move. Essentially he would be taking on the role left by Andre Iguodala, just with less career accolades but with more scope for on-court impact.