SAN FRANCISCO — Across every major professional sport, there are hundreds of examples of poor decisions on draft day and spectacular self-indulgence that turn to regret within months and often cost executives their jobs.
So the Warriors took advantage of their limited options in the 2024 NBA Draft on Thursday with a decision that, while not exactly social media buzz, signaled their sense of urgency.
They made the move to reaffirm their commitment to making the most of the remaining years of the Stephen Curry era.
Golden State acquired three players in their 20s with resumes of their own. Average age: 24.
“We’re not just trying to draft older guys,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said during a news conference at Chase Center. “We’re trying to draft good basketball players. If it takes us just a short time to evaluate it or it takes us a longer time, we don’t worry too much about age.”
Without a first-round draft pick and therefore little chance of finding a future All-Star, Golden State recruited a player that bucked the NBA Draft trend of seeking teenagers with “promise,” another logical trend in what was generally considered a mediocre draft.
The Warriors traded their lone pick, No. 52, to Oklahoma City on Thursday morning for 26-year-old Lindy Waters III, a wing who has played three years of professional basketball, the last three with the Thunder.
“I don’t think we would have used our draft pick to trade him if we didn’t feel he could compete for a spot in the starting rotation,” Dunleavy said. “His skill set and style of play is a great fit for how we play. We feel like he’s a guy that can play right away.”
On Thursday afternoon, the team re-used the 52nd pick (which Oklahoma City traded to Portland) and selected 24-year-old Ouinten Post, a 7-foot-4 center who began his career in the Netherlands before playing 124 games for two Division I colleges in the United States.
“We knew he was a guy who could shoot the ball, spread the floor, and he’s got some good size,” Dunleavy said. “I think he can rebound, his defense at the rim was NBA-caliber, he’s a good passer, he fits a lot of the boxes that we look for.”
Less than an hour later, the Warriors reached agreement on a two-way contract with 22-year-old Reece Beekman, a 6-foot-2 point guard who started 121 of 126 games at Virginia and was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year during his junior and senior years.
It remains to be seen how much those three acquisitions will add to the Warriors’ bottom line, but the strategy of drafting “experienced” prospects makes perfect sense for a franchise focused more on 2025 than 2030.
The franchise is trying to fill holes between at least two veterans, Draymond Green and Curry, and four young players the front office projects as keepers: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski.
That was the plan at the beginning of the week, and it remained the plan through the end of the draft.
As you may recall, the Warriors selected five teenagers in the three draft rounds leading up to 2022. They traded James Wiseman (2020), Patrick Baldwin Jr. (2022) and Ryan Rollins (2022). All that remains are Kuminga and Moody.
Kuminga is 21 and showed enough improvement last season to earn a spot in the starting lineup, while Moody turned 22 last month and has proven he can earn a spot in the starting rotation.
But this draft was about looking for players who might not be stars but could contribute right away. Three of Golden State’s four ring-holding players are older: Curry is 36, Green is 34, and Klay Thompson will be 34 when he returns. Plus, the Warriors are exploring the possibility of adding another proven veteran.
They know what they want, and they know they need a supplemental player who won’t be a burden on the payroll. This was a low-risk gamble that could pay off in the future. And soon.
“For me as an evaluator, the more things a guy can do well, the more I like him,” Dunleavy said, “versus a guy who doesn’t do a lot of things or who only does them for a short period of time.”
Waters, Post and Beekman provide plenty of video to evaluate, and while they add some mystery, they’re too big a risk for the Warriors at this point.
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