The Golden State Warriors went into the off-season with two goals.
- Take care of their own
- Add more talent to the roster.
Check and check.
Omri Casspi looks like an ideal bench piece for the Warriors.
The first move of the offseason was getting a new contract done for the two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry — a man who was playing on arguably the NBA’s best contract.
The Warriors and Curry agreed to a 5-year, $201 million deal that gave the star guard the NBA’s largest-ever deal as he inked the league’s first supermax contract.
Golden State then re-signed a pair of valuable reserves in small forward Andre Iguodala (3-Years / $48M) and Shaun Livingston (3-Years / $24M). Key cogs in the Warriors high-powered attack, Iguodala averaged 7.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1 steal in 26 minutes a game. Playing with the Warrior’s big four allowed Iguodala to enjoy arguably his most efficient season as a professional.
Livingston seems to have finally found a long-term NBA home following a nomadic first nine years of his career that saw him wear the jerseys of 9 different NBA teams. The 6-7 point guard kept the team’s offense humming while Curry was on the bench.
With those deals done, the team finally re-signed forward Kevin Durant to a team-friendly 2-Year, $53 million deal. In his first season with the Warriors, Durant averaged 25.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.6 blocks a game while shooting an incredible 53% from the field.
Durant took considerably less than his max contract in order to help the team re-sign it’s own free agents.
While the team still has lesser free agents like Ian Clark and JaVale McGee unsigned, they’ve now turned their attention to the second part of their off-season; adding more talent and depth to the team.
Yesterday they struck a deal with free agent Omri Casspi on a one-year contract for the league’s veteran minimum of $2.1 million.
The 29-year-old, 6-9 small forward averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds for the Timberwolves and Kings last season. He gives the team another player who’s capable of scoring from beyond the three-point line.
Just now, the Lakers added another potent scorer by agreeing to a contract with free agent shooting guard Nick Young on a one-year, $5.2 million contract.
The 32-year-old had a strong season for the Lakers in 16′-17′, averaging 13.2 points, while shooting 40% from 3-point range on 7 attempts a game.
The team still hopes to re-sign McGee as well.
