A big talking point surrounding the Golden State Warriors lately has to do with whether the team will re-sign big man Kristaps Porzingis. While it would not be a big shock either way even though the franchise have expressed an interest in bringing him back, they do have an ideal backup plan in case he goes elsewhere.
Nikola Vucevic is another big man that Warriors were connected to a lot before Golden State finally traded away Jonathan Kuminga to the Atlanta Hawks. He’s a veteran center with a ton of experience who ended up being traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Boston Celtics.
Warriors can pursue Nikola Vucevic if Kristaps Porzingis goes elsewhere
Early in his tenure with Boston, Vucevic looked really good. He scored 28 points in a game in late February and looked to mesh really well with the other guys on the floor. However, he caught a bad break as he broke his hand in early March, keeping him out for about a month.
He just returned for Boston though and looked decent in his return as he scored four points in 13 minutes of playing time. The Celtics are looking to work him into their rotation ahead of the playoffs, but the Warriors should be keeping an eye on him to see how he looks ahead of the offseason when he, like Porzingis, will be a free agent.
It’s tough to say whether Porzingis or Vucevic is a better fit for the Warriors. When both are healthy, Porzingis is probably the better fit overall given his size and the way he can create spacing on the floor. Yet Vucevic is still brings size at 6'9" and can impose his will if needed even if he isn’t 7'2" like Porzingis.
Vucevic has the better field goal percentage in his career as the 35-year-old has shot 49.7% from the field compared to Porzingis who has shot 46.1%. Yet Porzingis is the better three-point shooter, making 36.5% of his career threes compared to 35% for Vucevic.
However, it’s impossible to compare the two without thinking about their health. Since 2020, Vucevic has played in at least 70 games every season, and while he will probably miss that mark this season, that's only because of the hand injury as he’s still played in 61 games.
Porzingis by comparison has not even reached 70 games in a single season since his rookie campaign. That absolutely has to be taken into account, especially with how old and banged up the Warriors already are.
The Warriors may try to bring Porzingis back in the offseason, but if for whatever reason it does not work out, at least the team has a good backup plan with Vucevic.Â