There's a real chance none of the six veterans holding free agent workouts with the Golden State Warriors actually make the team.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. has made clear on multiple occasions this summer the Dubs will leave one roster slot open throughout 2023-24, saving Joe Lacob millions and millions of dollars in tax payments. Golden State also plans to hold a tryout of sorts in training camp before deciding on its 14th roster spot, with Lester Quinones and Jerome Robinson already confirmed to be in the running. Whichever veteran(s) shines most in workouts over the next couple weeks will merely be joining that race.
But the Warriors need everything to coalesce this season to win a remarkable fifth title in 10 years. The aging Dubs' necessary championship alchemy is as hard to come by as it is fragile. If Juan Toscano-Anderson, Kent Bazemore, Trey Burke, Harry Giles III, Tony Snell or Dion Waiters find a way to make the final roster, they'll be a factor in Golden State's quest for another ring no matter how little they ultimately see the floor. Everyone matters.
All those realities in mind, let's rank the Warriors' six free agent targets in terms of their chance to make the regular season roster.
Ranking Warriors' free agent workout targets
6. Dion Waiters
Big ups to Waiters for going public with the realization his “attitude” helped push him out of the league. The more veterans are honest and forthright about those pitfalls, the fewer young players will fall prey to those same mistakes. Unfortunately for Waiters, that admirable self-reflection won't change the traits of his game that make him a poor fit for the Dubs' last roster spot.
Now 31, Waiters has never been an objectively positive defender, value-add passer or reliable spot-up shooter in his career. Maybe his personal about-face changes his on-court approach to one rooted in team success, but inevitable physical and feel deficiencies alone after three years spent away from the NBA all but guarantee Waiters' comeback story will continue somewhere other than the Bay.
5. Tony Snell
The theory of Snell has always been more intriguing than anything he actually does on the floor. At 6'7 with a seven-foot wingspan and the reputation as a deadeye standstill shooter, he's the type of player every team would love to have at the end of its bench—on paper, at least.
But Snell's lack of quick-twitch athleticism and aversion to physicality keeps him from being an average wing defender, and his scorching 59.2% accuracy on catch-and-shoot triples in 2020-21 has been proven a small-sample anomaly. The all-zero box score meme is tired by now, but really is an indication of how little Snell impacts the game when his jumper isn't falling, even against G League competition.
Maybe Snell's player archetype gets him back in the NBA this season. The Warriors can simply do better with their last roster spot.
4. Kent Bazemore
Vibes, vibes, vibes.
Bazemore was out of the league last season after being waived by the Sacramento Kings shortly before opening night, a wholly unsurprising development considering his level of play with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021-22. Opening that season as a starter, Bazemore finished it far outside the Lakers' regular rotation, shooting a hard-to-believe 27.1% on two-pointers. The 34-year-old is no longer the ultra-disruptive on-ball defender who initially made his name as an undrafted free agent with the Warriors over a decade ago, either.
But chemistry is paramount for any team competing for the title, and Golden State is putting renewed emphasis on it in wake of last season's roiling locker-room turmoil. Bazemore has happily played the role of Warriors lead cheerleader before. Given the apparent state of his game and an aging team's need for live bodies at the end of the bench, though, it'd be a surprise if the Dubs let nostalgia get the best of them by bringing Bazemore back.
3. Trey Burke
Adding another small guard to the mix certainly wouldn't address Golden State's need for size. How many teams in league history have featured a pair of no-brainer Hall-of-Fame point guards? Health provided, the Warriors shouldn't play a competitive minute in 2023-24 without at least one of Stephen Curry or Chris Paul on the floor.
But the 82-game grind isn't played in a vacuum. There will definitely be times this season when Golden State is without Curry or Paul due to injury or load management, and no one should be shocked if they're sidelined for extended stints simultaneously.
Burke's baseline ability to run offense and drain open shots would be a boon in those scenarios given the Warriors' dearth of dynamic table-setters beyond Curry and Paul. Cory Joseph can't consistently threaten defenses, Brandin Podziemski is best playing off advantages created by others, and Draymond Green just doesn't have the scoring pop to consistently scramble defenses on the ball.
Burke makes sense as an emergency fourth point guard, but that role would be better filled by Quinones—a more dynamic penetrator and viable defender who's already familiar with Steve Kerr's scheme.
2. Juan Toscano-Anderson
Few role players during Golden State's dynasty have been as universally beloved as Toscano-Anderson, a homegrown success story for both the organization and Bay Area itself. The Oakland native grew up rooting for the Dubs and initially broke into the league with the Santa Cruz Warriors after several years playing overseas.
Toscano-Anderson has never again scraped his peak of 2020-21, though, when he shot an eye-popping 71.8% on twos and 40.2% from deep, albeit on very limited usage and volume. The Lakers signed him before last season as a cheap 3-and-D option at forward, expectations Toscano-Anderson failed to meet before being moved to the Utah Jazz at the trade deadline.
No player scheduled to workout for Golden State blends positional need, scheme familiarity and cultural clout better than Toscano-Anderson. Those characteristics alone could earn him the Dubs' last roster slot, and very well may if the others vying for it fail to impress team power brokers.
1. Harry Giles III
Even after drafting Trayce Jackson-Davis and signing Dario Saric, the Warriors could use another true big on the roster. Green and Kevon Looney were stretched dangerously thin last season, while Jonathan Kuminga is still getting used to the grunt work of rebounding, screening and making plays on the roll that Golden State requires from all of its power forwards and centers, de facto or otherwise.
Giles is no behemoth, but at 6'11, 240 pounds, boasts a solid combination of movement skills and comfort with the ball for a five. He'd thrive as a passer in the Warriors' dribble hand-off game, and has just enough mobility to switch onto perimeter ball handlers in a pinch. Early-career injuries have sapped the former all-world prep prospect of explosiveness needed to impact the rim on either side of the ball, though, and Giles has never been able to compensate offensively by stretching his jumper to the arc.
Giles' natural gifts and snug stylistic fit gives him the highest on-court ceiling of any veteran who will workout for Golden State. But it'd be a surprise if he beat out Jackson-Davis as this team's fourth big, and injury concerns will always follow him. Still, if it's not Quinones or another seasoned free agent to be determined, Giles would be a worthy flier for the Warriors at the back of the roster—let alone on a two-way contract.
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