Warriors Could Target Former Lakers Sharpshooter in Free Agency: Insider

Wayne Ellington

Getty Wayne Ellington reacts to a play in a Los Angeles Lakers game.

The Golden State Warriors could snag a former divisional rival to help replace some of their lost shooting prowess, an insider speculates.

After winning their fourth title in the last eight seasons, the Warriors became victims of their own success this offseason. Guard Gary Payton II and big man Otto Porter Jr. both used their strong performances to snag new contracts outside of Golden State’s price range, while Nemanja Bjelica opted to leave the NBA on top and return to his former team in Turkey.

The trio made a total of 177 three-pointers last season, leaving a shooting gap in both the frontcourt and backcourt. Dieter Kurtenbach of The Mercury News believes a former Los Angeles Lakers guard could help make up some of the difference.

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Popular Laker Could Become Warriors Target

Kurtenbach broke down the current roster needs for the Warriors and named some players who could fit within the team’s financial constraints. He suggested a group of players who could be signing for minimum contracts — a group that could be a bit wider for the Warriors given that they just won a title and are early favorites to repeat next season.

“Call them ring-chasers, reputation-revivers, or cheap labor (relatively, of course); the Warriors need to add at least one, perhaps two players to their roster before the start of training camp in October, and they can’t spend much,” Kurtenbach wrote.

Former Lakers guard Wayne Ellington is among this group. The well-traveled 34-year-old connected on 38.9 percent of his three-pointers last season, averaging 6.7 points per game. Ellington has become almost exclusively a three-point shooter, taking an average of 5.5 shots per game last season and 4.9 of them were three-pointers.

“Ellington became a bit of a cult hero with the Lakers last year. How can you not like a classic 3-and-D player? Ok, just a 3,” Kurtenbach wrote.

“But while he’s a sieve on the defensive side of the court, stick him in the corner and let him knock down shot after shot. In the last two seasons, he’s shot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc — all without taking a dribble, I believe.”


Keeping Core Intact

While the Warriors lost some important members of their rotation, general manager Bob Myers said the main goal for the offseason is to keep the core players together — which means giving a contract extension to Jordan Poole.

After averaging 8.8 points per game in his rookie season and 12 points last season, Poole broke out in 2021-22. He averaged 18.5 points per game while shooting a career-best 36.4 percent from behind the 3-point line.

While there will likely be more acquisitions for the Warriors as they fill holes in the rotation and look to replace some of what was lost in free agency, a long-term deal for Poole appears to be the priority. Myers said the team is working on a new contract, but couldn’t say exactly when the pieces may fall into place.

“All these negotiations take on a life of their own,” Myers said, via ESPN. “They’re all different. But I know with a guy like Jordan, usually, those things come down to kind of training camp and end-of-the-line deadline. … We’re a long way from figuring out what Andrew wants and what his agent wants, but I do know what we want. We want to keep him, and we’re going to make every effort to keep both those guys. They were huge for us.”

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