Former Warriors guard signs deserved contract with rebuilt contender

It's taken almost the entire offseason but former Golden State Warriors guard Lester Quinones has finally secured his next NBA opportunity.

Quinones has signed a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania on Wednesday. It comes after the 23-year-old was linked to the 76ers by HoopsHype's Michael Scotto during a report at the start of free agency in early July.

Former Warriors guard Lester Quinones has an uphill battle to stick with the 76ers

While Quinones certainly deserves this opportunity after showing some positive signs with Golden State last season, Philadelphia may not be the most ideal landing spot for the young guard.

The 76ers already have their All-Star guard of the present and future in the form of Tyrese Maxey, and have surrounded him with veterans Kyle Lowry, Reggie Jackson and Eric Gordon. They also recently drafted 6'2" guard Jared McCain with the 16th overall pick in June, and have been quietly but effectively developing Ricky Council IV who appeared in 32 games during his rookie year.

That's a lot of players to start behind, not to mention Philadelphia will be hell-bent on being a championship contender this season after completely rebuilding their roster headlined by the acquisition of 9x All-Star Paul George in free agency.

That's likely to leave a very limited window of opportunity for Quinones, and one that may require injuries or misfortune to others on the roster. Yet he was ready for that opportunity when it presented last season, enjoying a good stretch of basketball between late January and early March while veteran Chris Paul was on the sidelines.

Quinones played 20-straight games during that period, including 14 in which he played more than 10 minutes. He averaged 14.9 minutes across the 20 games, recording 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 35% from beyond the arc.

The 6'5" guard also played well enough to incentivize Golden State into trading Cory Joseph at the mid-season deadline, allowing them to save some money by converting Quinones' two-way contract into the vacant roster spot.

It's surprising that a two-way contract took this long to be forthcoming, and that it's at the 76ers who appear to have a glut of guards already. It means that while all fans will undoubtedly wish Quinones the best, he still has an uphill battle to make the Warriors regret giving him up so easily after just 41 total games with the franchise over the past two seasons.