A re-emergence of Kristaps Porzingis' worrisome illness will see the veteran center miss training camp in Hawaii, but it does give a major opportunity to the remainder of the Golden State Warriors center rotation just weeks out from opening night.
Charles Bassey and Graham Ike, in particular, are two unproven centers who stand to benefit from Porzingis' absence during training camp and when preseason gets underway against the L.A. Clippers on Sunday.
Kristaps Porzingis illness opens opportunity for unproven centers
Bassey is clearly the third-string center on the Warrior roster and his minimum contract is only partially guaranteed, but the 25-year-old is well placed to take advantage of any time where Porzingis and/or Al Horford are unavailable.
It's a huge opportunity for someone entering their sixth NBA season who's yet to secure their footing in the league. Bassey appeared in just 13 combined games across four different teams last season, having been forced into accepting small opportunities through 10-day and even hardship contracts.
Bassey did impress in his five games with Golden State to end last season, recording two double-doubles and averaging 10.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in just 20 minutes. On the other hand, those five games were largely in a low-stake environment given the Warriors were locked into the 10th-seed, and he was dumped from the rotation come the Play-In Tournament matchups against the L.A. Clippers and Phoenix Suns.
While Porzingis could return by opening night against the Los Angeles Lakers, Bassey now has a full runway in training camp and early in preseason to prove he should get legitimate rotation minutes, or that he's ready for a major role in the event the Latvian big man isn't available.
Warriors signed Graham Ike for this exact reason
We're yet to see Ike at the NBA level after going undrafted at June's NBA Draft, yet this appears exactly why Golden State signed the Gonzaga product to a two-year, two-way contract last week.
He doesn't share the same skillset as Porzingis, rather Ike, like Bassey, does his best work in the paint on both ends of the floor. But knowing this was always a possibility given the history of both Porzingis and Horford, the Warriors undoubtedly targeted Ike with an idea that he could step in if required following an extensive college career and impressive form for the team during summer league.
The reality is that at least one of Bassey or Ike simply must take advantage of this opportunity, otherwise the Warriors will be left with burdening Draymond Green with too many minutes as small-ball five, and placing further pressure on a 40-year-old Horford to play significantly more than the 45 games he played last season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google