When it comes to player departures from the Golden State Warriors this offseason, most of the attention has rightly surrounded Klay Thompson, and to a lesser extent Chris Paul given the franchise's choice to waive the 12x All-Star's non-guaranteed contract.
Less has been made of Dario Saric's move to the Denver Nuggets, and understandably so given the difference in stature between he and future hall of famers like Thompson and Paul. However, it does deserve some exploration nonetheless, particularly given the Croatian has moved to a direct rival in the Western Conference.
The contract given to Dario Saric to lure him away from the Golden State Warriors was a perplexing and downright risky one
There was plenty of excitement among Warrior fans after the franchise managed to sign Saric to a one-year, minimum contract last offseason, with that only amplified by the addition of Paul after the pair had played together in Phoenix.
That excitement appeared well founded through the first 30 games of the season. Up to and including the Christmas Day game against his new team in the Nuggets, Saric was fifth on the Warriors in scoring, second in rebounding, was shooting a healthy 38.8% from three-point range, and was third in plus-minus behind only Paul and Brandin Podziemski.
But while things were working reasonably well, the 30-year-old's defense became an ever-growing pain that slowly snuck up until it was staring Steve Kerr right in the face. The idea of Saric as an offensively-skilled small-ball center simply wasn't viable, and was only made more stark by the impact of emerging rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis.
His minutes quickly reduced over the second-half of the season, and largely came in double-big lineups where he wasn't asked to be the anchor of a defense. The minutes dwindled until he was out of the rotation, with the 6'10" big man playing less than 35 total minutes across the final 21 games of the season.
It's no surprise then that Saric wanted to seek greener pastures this offseason, and that Golden State presumably had little interest in bringing him back. What's incredibly perplexing is that despite not having a great season, Saric parlayed his minimum contract into a two-year, $10.6 million deal with the Nuggets.
Could Denver have not got Saric on the minimum? Did they really have to give him a second-year player option? This was someone who proved essentially unplayable across the last two months of the season, and who sat only in front of Andrew Wiggins in terms of worst plus-minus on the team across the entire year. Golden State had a -1.1 net rating when Saric was on the floor last season, and a +4.2 net rating when he was off it.
Perhaps things will be different at the Nuggets where Saric can play behind and sometimes alongside a 3x MVP in Nikola Jokic. But we also can't forget that the nine-year veteran was supposed to be a perfect fit for the Warriors too, only to drastically fade following a bright start.
You can question how risky it really is when we're talking about an annual salary of just over $5 million, but in today's day and age of punitive tax aprons, teams need to maximize every dollar they spend. Based on Saric's most recent form with the Warriors, the Nuggets don't appear to have done that.