The Golden State Warriors waived Dalen Terry, Tyler Burton and Alex Toohey on Saturday to set their regular-season roster at the maximum of 18.
All three moves were expected. The only player with no guaranteed money in his standard contract is Brandon Williams, and he played well enough in the preseason to keep his roster spot.
Williams will see $1.4 million of his salary guaranteed when he's on the roster on opening night.
Among the two-way players, Malevy Leons seems to have the most tenuous hold on his spot, but Steve Kerr said on Monday that he expects Leons to fill in at times with the NBA team.
Of the three players who were waived, Terry is the most intriguing. He was drafted with the 18th pick of 2022 draft and played 218 NBA games, mostly with the Bulls.
Terry is not eligible for a two-way contract, which leaves him with fewer pathways to an NBA roster.
Terry, Burton and Toohey are expected to sign contracts with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Warriors' Roster for Opening Night
The following 15 players will be under standard contracts with the Warriors for at least the start of the season:
PG: Stephen Curry, Brandon Williams*
SG: Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Will Richard
SF: Gui Santos, Jimmy Butler (injured), Moses Moody (injured)
PF: Yaxel Lendeborg, Georges Niang*
C: Draymond Green, Al Horford, Charles Bassey*, Kristaps Porzingis (out indefinitely)
Williams, Niang and Bassey have asterisks because their contracts are partially guaranteed. Their contracts become fully guaranteed on January 10. If the Warriors want to sign Terry, they will probably release one of the three in early January to make room for him.
The Warriors' three two-way spots are being doled out like so:
PG: LJ Cryer
PF: Malevy Leons
C: Graham Ike
Two-way players don't count against the salary cap, so Cryer, Leons and Ike can't feel totally safe. With that said, Cryer showed out in 18 appeances with Golden State last season, so his spot feels the safest.
The fact that Ike plays center helps cause, as the Warriors are likely to need a depth center at times due to a combination of injury/illness and rest.
Burton and Toohey are two-way eligible, so if they look great at Santa Cruz, one of them could be next in line if one of the two-way spots opens up.
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