Unfortunately, there was no way for the Golden State Warriors to bring Dalen Terry onto the roster out of training camp.
With the way the roster unfolded, Brandon Williams and Georges Niang easily claimed the final two roster spots, even coming into camp on partially-guaranteed deals. The Warriors needed a backup point guard option behind Stephen Curry, and Williams did more than enough to prove he was capable of taking that on. No matter how Niang performed, moreover, the Warriors were not going to fork over the $1.8 million partial guarantee on his contract without having him on the roster.
Terry, having four years of NBA experience, was not eligible for a two-way contract. Even with Golden State's need, then, for an additional, 3-point shooting wing, it was simply impossible to find a way to keep Terry out of Santa Cruz to start the season.
The hope was, though, that Terry could remain there long enough to give the Warrior some flexibility if a trade opened up an additional roster spot. But the Oklahoma City Thunder's disastrous injury issues made an opportunity appear sooner than anticipated.
The Thunder have now added Terry on a two-year deal to account for their need on the wing, and that leaves the Warriors without their premier insurance policy over the remainder of 2026-27.
Dalen Terry was a backup plan for the Warriors—and now they'll have to think twice before swinging a major trade
Granted, there's no guarantee Terry will be an immediately viable NBA player for any team. He had one excellent preseason performance for Golden State on his training camp deal, posting 23 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists while knocking down four of his five attempts from beyond the arc against the Portland Trail Blazers.
But across four NBA seasons, Terry's averaged just 3.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists while shooting 31.4% from 3-point range. Is he a 3-and-D wing capable of rotational minutes when called upon? Yes. But the Thunder are absolutely taking a gamble by bringing him in to fill their 15th roster spot.
This comes, also, after Oklahoma City reneged on its signing of Ochai Agbaji last week to fill the same role. But at this point, the Thunder have very little choice. They're now likely down both Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for much (if not the whole of) the remainder of the season, and Chet Holmgren is out eight to 10 weeks with a small patellar tendon tear in his right knee. The Thunder needed depth on the wing, and Terry immediately provides that for them.
It was, frankly, wishful thinking that Terry would remain in Santa Cruz for the rest of the season, as NBA teams often keep their 15th roster spots open to leap on a buyout or signing opportunity like this when the need arises. But if he had, it would've provided the Warriors with some extra trade flexibility.
Say that two contracts need to be packaged together to bring back one player, like in a potential trade for Trey Murphy III with the New Orleans Pelicans. The Warriors, for example, could package Kristaps Porzingis and Moses Moody to get to his contract number. Now, neither of those players are available to play currently, so the deal would represent an immediate boon to Golden State's rotation even by simply adding a player to the fold.
But none of the two-way options, at least right now, seem viable enough to be converted to standard deals this season, and with the injury concerns the Warriors have with their veterans, they simply can't afford to operate with less than 15 players on the roster for any extended stretch of time.
Bringing Terry up after that sort of trade would've been the perfect opportunity—but the Thunder's opportunistic move means that's no longer an option for Golden State.
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