The Golden State Warriors made another move on the eve of training camp, adding a young guard whose path to the organization began taking shape several days earlier.
Golden State signed Miles Kelly to a contract Sunday, the team announced as part of its 2026-27 training camp roster. Kelly joins Dalen Terry and Alex Toohey as late additions before the Warriors begin camp Tuesday at BYU-Hawaii.
Kelly, 23, arrives with a small amount of NBA experience but a considerably larger body of work in the G League. The 6-foot-4 guard appeared in 14 games, all as a reserve, for the Dallas Mavericks as a rookie last season, averaging 3.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 9.6 minutes.
The signing, however, appears to be about more than adding another body for camp.
Warriors Already Made Move to Bring Miles Kelly Into System
Five days before Golden State announced Kelly’s signing, its G League affiliate acquired his returning-player rights from the Texas Legends.
Santa Cruz sent its first-round pick in the 2026 G League draft, along with the returning-player rights to Charles Bassey and Ja’Vier Francis, to Texas for Kelly’s rights.
That was a notable investment for a player who went undrafted out of Auburn in 2025.
Kelly showed why during his first G League season. He averaged 21.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 33 games for Texas while shooting 43.8% from the field and 38.3% from 3-point range.
Those numbers offer a better picture of what Golden State is evaluating than his limited NBA minutes.
Kelly is a volume perimeter shooter with enough size to play on the wing, an archetype the Warriors can afford to keep developing behind an expensive veteran core. His final college season offered similar evidence: He shot 37.8% from beyond the arc while averaging 11.3 points for an Auburn team that reached the 2025 Final Four.
Kelly Faces Golden State’s Crowded Competition
Kelly isn’t walking into camp with an obvious NBA roster spot waiting for him.
Golden State’s announced 21-player camp roster includes Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Kristaps Porziņģis, along with established rotation players and several prospects competing around the margins. The Warriors’ three two-way slots are already occupied by LJ Cryer, Malevy Leons and Graham Ike.
That makes Kelly’s connection to Santa Cruz especially relevant.
Golden State has increasingly used the back end of its roster to identify players it can develop within its own system rather than treating training camp strictly as a competition for immediate NBA minutes. Kelly now gets an opportunity to make an impression on Steve Kerr’s staff before potentially continuing that development nearby.
He’ll get his first extended look in Hawaii.
The Warriors begin camp Tuesday and will remain there through Saturday before facing the Los Angeles Clippers in their preseason opener Oct. 4 at Honolulu’s Stan Sheriff Center.
For Kelly, the road from Dallas to Golden State may run through Santa Cruz. The Warriors have already invested enough to make that path worth watching.
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