Veteran forward Georges Niang was technically the 15th player signed to the Golden State Warriors this week, having agreed to a one-year, minimum contract that's only partially guaranteed for $1.8 million.
While that would appear to put Niang on the edge of the rotation, the 33-year-old is likely to walk straight into Steve Kerr's plans for opening night because of his reliable 3-point shooting.
Georges Niang walks into Warriors rotation thanks to 3-point shooting
As much as Niang may be a historically reliable 3-point shooter, it may actually say more about Golden State's painful lack of highly efficient outside threats. With Moses Moody starting the season on the sidelines recovering from his torn patellar tendon, Niang may have a case to being the second-best shooter on the roster behind Stephen Curry.
The 6'6" forward has shot 39.9% across his career, including 40.6% on 5.2 attempts per game in his combined 79 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks during the 2024-25 season. He's been incredibly consistent across the previous seven seasons, shooting between 37.6% and 42.5% in each year.
If you're arguably the second-best shooter on a roster that will begin the season without two of its wing/forward options in Moody and Butler, you simply have to play so long as Niang isn't completely underwhelming in other aspects.
At the same time, relying on a veteran role player who hasn't played in 12 months to be your second-best shooter doesn't say much about the rest of the roster. The Warriors have a number of steady perimeter threats, but few (if any) that you would call elite outside Curry. If we're taking into account two-way contracted players, LJ Cryer has a strong claim to being the second-best shooter despite having only played in 18 career games.
Warriors moved on from their best 3-point shooters
Golden State have chosen to bring Niang and Brandon Williams into the fold rather than seek a reunion with Seth Curry. For as disappointing as it was that Curry could only make 10 appearances last season, he remained an elite 3-point shooter in hitting an absurd 48% from beyond the arc in those games.
Moving on from the younger Curry brother comes on the heels of trading Buddy Hield in February who was certainly a high volume 3-point shooter. They also let Quinten Post walk to the Memphis Grizzlies as a restricted free agent after shooting 40.8% from deep in his rookie year, while Moody's injury absence will be felt after he was the only Warrior player to shoot 40% on more than 30 total attempts last season.
It all sets up for Niang to be part of the rotation at least through the early stages of the season, albeit there's still a watch on how he can perform after a year out of the game.
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