12 Golden State Warriors that never played a single minute

No. 3: Gerald Wallace

One of the best nicknames in basketball during the 2000s was that of Gerald Wallace; “Crash” lived up to the moniker every time he stepped onto a basketball court, using his strength and athleticism to his advantage while getting into the mix for every rebound and loose ball there was.

The 25th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft began his career as a minor role player for the Sacramento Kings, then broke out in a major way for the Charlotte Hornets as a defensive maven and transition terror. He made just a single All-Star Game but was a well-known name in the league.

Wallace was famously traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Brooklyn Nets in 2012, with the Nets seeing only three players they liked in the upcoming draft and therefore placing only Top-3 protection on the pick; it landed at seventh, and the Blazers drafted Damian Lillard.

Unsurprisingly, his physical brand of basketball led to a steep decline late in his career, and at the age of 32 he was ping-ponged around the league as teams got off of his remaining salary. That included the Golden State Warriors adding him in July of 2015, then flipping him for veteran big Jason Thompson a month later. Wallace in his prime would have been a welcome addition to the Warriors, but Wallace at the end of his career wasn’t able to help.