The Golden State Warriors are looking for a center, and they could add one at a discount after the Brooklyn Nets cut loose Day'Ron Sharpe on eve of Free Agency
NBA Free Agency officially begins at 3:00 PM PT on Monday afternoon, at which point teams can officially negotiate with free agents from other teams. Those negotiations are of course happening already between teams and agents, but for appearance's sake those deals will not be announced until the official start of Free Agency.
Some business officially happens in the days leading up to Free Agency, however. One of those concern restricted free agents -- players coming off of a contract with four years or fewer of NBA experience. If a team extends a qualifying offer -- essentially, a one-year guaranteed contract offer the player can accept at any time -- they become a restricted free agent and their team has the right to match any contract they sign.
The Warriors cannot afford to pursue any restricted free agents for their need at center. Such contracts cannot be signed until a week into free agency, and then there is a matching period where the original team has the option to match the contract. If the Warriors waited on such a player and their team matched, they would be left without a center and with the rest of the market likely to be settled.
The Brooklyn Nets made a curious move over the weekend, however. They chose not to extend a qualifying offer to young big man Day'Ron Sharpe, which allows him to become an unrestricted free agent and sign with any team that he likes. Suddenly he leaps back onto the board as a free agent option for the Warriors at center.
The Warriors should consider signing Day'Ron Sharpe
Day'Ron Sharpe was drafted 29th out of North Carolina in the 2021 NBA Draft and has spent four seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. He has failed to carve out a significant role, starting just 14 out of 191 games in that time. He is not a floor-spacer, has a high foul rate and is a career 64.8 percent shooter from the free-throw line. That's why the Nets are not interested in bringing him back.
Those should be yellow flags that give the Warriors pause, and he is not the right player to target as a surefire starter. Yet there are very real signs that Sharpe has untapped potential, and in the right system with the right teammates, he could unlock potential that has heretofore gone unexplored.
For his career, Sharpe's rebound percentage (i.e. the percentage of available rebounds that he grabs while on the court) is 21.6 percent. By way of comparison, no player on the Warriors exceeded that number but Kevon Looney, who was at 21.8 percent. No other Warrior was within four percent of Sharpe's mark, in fact.
He is a balanced rebounder on both ends of the court as well; his 19.4 percent offensive rebounding percentage would have led the team. His 4.4 career block percentage likewise would have led the Warriors last season. Sharpe is an efficient finisher and has improved as a passer, something that would lend itself to his fit in Steve Kerr's system.
Sharpe is the ideal type of young center to take a flier on. It likely means moving on from Kevon Looney, but that is something they may do anyway. Pairing Sharpe with another low-cost center to build out their rotation would make a lot of sense, and it's very possible in a year Sharpe is moving into the starting role.
The Nets just did some team a favor, and it may very well be the Golden State Warriors who cash in and claim it.