It has been an eventful offseason for the Golden State Warriors. Barring any unforeseen major moves, the Warriors will be entering the 2023-24 season with the new faces of Chris Paul, Cory Joseph, and Dario Saric on the roster, not to mention rookies Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Those five should play important roles next season alongside Stephen Curry and company, as they try to compete for the franchise's fifth championship over the past decade.
However, at the moment, the Warriors only have 13 players under contract. That means that the Warriors, in the 12th day of free agency, still has two open roster spots to fill, not to mention three open two-way spots. Nevertheless, it seems like the team is taking their sweet time to round out their roster.
According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the Warriors front office doesn't feel any sense of urgency to pluck anyone from free agency at the moment, and that they may prefer to keep those spots open heading into training camp — especially after already signing some players to fill in positions of need.
“The remaining market is pretty dry. The Warriors are likely to take a patient wait-and-see approach before committing a guaranteed contract to somebody in that 14th slot, team sources indicated to The Athletic,” Slater wrote. “If nothing appealing enough materializes before October, team sources indicate that the Warriors are comfortable putting their 14th spot up for grabs in a training camp competition among non-guaranteed candidates.”
At the moment, it seems rather unlikely that something “appealing” materializes in free agency for the Warriors between now and October. Currently, Christian Wood and Kelly Oubre Jr. stand out as the best options in unrestricted free agency. The Dubs have already signed a big man in free agency in Dario Saric, while the Warriors wanted no part of the Oubre experience after just one season in 2021.
Meanwhile, the best bet to earn the 14th roster spot may be Lester Quinones, who has impressed many with his Summer League play. But with the Warriors already loaded at the guard positions, Quinones will have to work even harder than he already has to make the opening night team.