Golden State Warriors sneakily made huge front court upgrade in free agency

Following the departure of veteran duo Klay Thompson and Chris Paul, there's been plenty of debate on whether the Golden State Warriors will be better in the back court thanks to the offseason additions of De'Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield.

The potential impact of Kyle Anderson has also been a major talking point, but less has been made of how much the 30-year-old could actually be a significant upgrade over Dario Saric in the Warrior front court.

The Golden State Warriors have found a major upgrade by replacing Dario Saric with former Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson

Anderson is set to make $8.8 million next season, while Saric will earn $5.2 million after signing with the Denver Nuggets. While those respective deals would suggest that Anderson should be an upgrade, there's an argument to be made that the output will be more than the $3.6 million difference in 2024-25 salary.

Despite their being just one inch and five pounds difference between the two, Anderson and Saric are very much different players. The latter is known for his offensive skillset as a spacing threat, while Anderson is much more known for his versatility on the defensive side of the ball.

So for the sake of this comparison, let's just look at the variance in winning impact over their respective careers and in particular the last few seasons. In over 14,000 minutes across a decade-long career, Anderson's team is a cumulative +702 when he's on the floor. The former 30th overall pick has recorded a positive plus-minus in each of the past four seasons, and in seven of his 10 seasons in the league.

In contrast, Saric is a +70 in his nearly 11,000 minutes across seven seasons. In four of those years the Croatian has recorded a negative plus-minus, including last season with the Warriors where he was -21 on a team that finished 10 games above .500.

Some may question the validity of plus-minus numbers, but over the course of a career it's a handy tool to measure a player's impact on winning. To further the case, Anderson has .123 win shares per 48 minutes across the course of his career, compared to .092 for Saric. The new Warrior forward has an average career VORP (value over replacement player) of 1.36, while Saric's is 0.51.

Almost every metric would suggest that Anderson is a far more impactful player, and arguably more so than what the respective contracts may state. While Saric was essentially out of the Warriors rotation by the end of last season, Anderson is expected to be a constant 20-25 minute player for Steve Kerr, not just in 2024-25 but for a number of years to come.