The Golden State Warriors moved on rather quickly from first-round pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. The stretch big now finds his entire career crumbling to ash around him and his time in the NBA may be over.
The Warriors have a love-hate relationship with drafting near the end of the first round. They took center Festus Ezeli with such a pick and lucked out that Draymond Green fell to them in the second round. For every Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole they found in the late first, there was also a Damian Jones or Jacob Evans that proved to be a complete bust.
Enter Patrick Baldwin Jr. Drafted 28th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, Baldwin was a bet on pedigree. Once one of the top recruits in his class, he chose to play for his day at Milwaukee and had an abjectly terrible freshman season. He entered the NBA Draft anyway and fell to 28th.
The theory behind Baldwin was obvious. The Warriors had just won their fourth title and done so with stretch-forward Otto Porter Jr. playing a key role. His ability to space the court unlocked versatility with Draymond Green in various lineups.
Baldwin was seen as a similar type of player, someone who could get up shots at a high volume and make plays defensively on the other end. Yet any player drafted at the end of the first round is a gamble, and he wasn't able to prove himself as a rookie enough to hang around. The Warriors moved him to the rebuilding Washington Wizards the next summer and continued their quest for frontcourt shooting, ultimately pairing Quenten Post and Al Horford for this upcoming season.
The Warriors moved on from Baldwin
Baldwin showed real signs of life in Washington as a sophomore, but his shooting cooled off and they didn't appear to know exactly how to use him. Last year he played merely spot minutes for the Wizards before he was tossed into a massive 4-team Trade Deadline deal and ended up in San Antonio. The Spurs promptly waived him, and he signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Clippers.
He should have been the perfect fit for the Clippers, a younger stretch big to groom and prepare to replace Brook Lopez in a year or two. Yet he failed to win a spot in training camp, and he was waived at the end of the preseason.
Baldwin is now adrift in the league and without an NBA home. He will likely either sign in the G League to try and earn another spot on an NBA roster, or he may realize his NBA fate and head overseas to continue his career.
Perhaps salvation comes from an unlikely place. Two teams still have a two-way slot open heading into the season. Half the league has their 15th roster spot open. If someone is intrigued by his skillset, perhaps he gets an early chance.
More likely, this is the end for Baldwin's NBA career. Things are spiraling with little hope of recovery, and he must be prepared to take a step into another chapter outside of the 30 NBA teams.