The Golden State Warriors seem to have a made a solid signing by bringing in Georges Niang this offseason.
Although he's shot just 27.6% from beyond the arc this season, he presents an additional screen-setting and floor spacing presence—and he's a player that Steve Kerr obviously trusts to go out and provide consistent minutes. On a team with numerous injury and longevity concerns they'll need to face over the course of the campaign, the value of having an available Niang on a veteran minimum contract can't be overstated.
But we know how much Kerr loves to lean into his trustworthy veterans, even when their production might not justify it.
Niang's 19.6 minutes per game are likely sustainable over the course of the season—that's where he should be sitting in terms of his rotational workload. But if Kerr is going to continue to lean on him even when the fit isn't working on both ends of the floor, Golden State is going to run into trouble at some point in this campaign.
Especially in games where Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are resting, there needs to be a chance for the young players to figure out their fit in the rotation. That can't happen if Kerr simply returns to Niang at every possible juncture.
Georges Niang is a solid addition for the Warriors—but there need to be other looks and other fits explored by Steve Kerr
On the surface, it makes sense why Kerr went with Niang over Gui Santos in the starting lineup yesterday. Santos ultimately exited the game after he re-aggravated the knee issue that's plagued him to this point in the season, so maybe the Warriors identified that and planned to reduce his workload anyways. But apart from that, the absence of Curry in the starting five meant that Golden State needed an extra jolt of floor-spacing, and it's possible they thought Niang could provide that alongside Yaxel Lendeborg in the front court.
But here's the fact of the matter. The Warriors are worse defensively when Niang is on the court, and his lack of consistent 3-point shooting to this point in the season has been a draw on his main value to the team.
He has a -2.3 defensive box plus-minus to this point in the season, and the Warriors have a -6.9 net rating in the minutes that Niang has paired with Gary Payton II. Obviously a small sample size there, but given the fact that these are the veterans Kerr tends to trust the most off the bench, that's a concerning trend.
Niang, moreover, is averaging just 6.4 points while shooting 38.3% from the field through seven games. This isn't to argue that he can't be a valuable player for this team. But he needs to earn his minutes, and Kerr needs to be willing to lean more heavily on players like Will Richard if Niang can't justify those opportunities.
This early portion of the season needs to be an opportunity for Kerr to make adjustments, and when he returned for another stint with Golden State this offseason, it was publicly promised that there would be changes to how he generally approaches the rotation.
If he isn't willing to give the young players those looks with some of the starters, even in games where Curry and Green rest, the team's depth is going to suffer for it later in the season.
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