UPDATE: The Warriors announced Dario Šarić's signing on Wednesday. Original story below.
The Warriors are yet to officially announce their one-year minimum contract for Dario Šarić, but new general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. spoke about the impending deal with reporters on Monday in Las Vegas.
The franchise is hoping the 6-foot-10 stretch forward can fill a valuable bench role like Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica during the team’s championship run in 2021-22.
For the 29-year-old Šarić, Golden State provides him a chance to parlay a big season into a multiyear contract, as players like Donte DiVincenzo (four years, $50 million), Gary Payton II (three years, $26 million) and Porter (two years, $12.3 million) have been able to do in recent years.
“We have the intent to sign him,” Dunleavy said of Šarić. “If he does sign, we’d be tremendously excited. Look, we’ve had a lot of success signing guys that should probably make more than the minimum. They come in and they’d be able to help our team. We talk about guys like Beli and Otto and Donte last year – he was more the minimum, but he took less than market value. It took some convincing but I think we were able to sell our program, our culture and the way we play. I think that Dario saw that vision and we’re really thrilled to have him.”
Šarić played in 57 combined games for the Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder last season after missing the entire 2021-22 season due to an ACL injury. Throughout his six-year career, Šarić has averaged 11 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the floor and 36 percent from 3-point land.
“Dario’s a guy we called – first minute, first possible second we could call in free agency,” Dunleavy said. “Although it took 8 or 9 days, we finally got him. That was great to see.”
Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported that new Warriors guard Chris Paul vocalized his support for the Šarić signing, as the big fella can stretch the floor and play well with ball-handlers in pick-and-roll/pop situations. Slater also shared some clips of Šarić on Twitter.
While shipping away Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins to the Washington Wizards for Paul, the Warriors have also signed veteran guard Cory Joseph this offseason. Šarić’s signing would bring the roster to 13 full-time spots and a total player payroll bill of $395.4 million, per @GSWCBA on Twitter.
It’s possible the Warriors will roll into the season with one more signing to bring their total to 14 of the max 15 spots. The team has also tendered a qualifying offer to two-way player Lester Quinones, one of the three two-way spots available on the expanded rosters for 2023-24.
“There’s a lot of good players out there,” Dunleavy said of the pair of two-way openings. “We have two regular roster spots as well. I like where our roster’s at right now with 13 and just have an optionality and see who comes up and who comes available, and who we can get. I don’t think there’s any glaring needs to address but there’s some things we can sprinkle and improve on the margins. But overall, happy with where we’re at.”
WARRIORS ROSTER
1. Steph Curry, Guard
2. Klay Thompson, Guard
3. Andrew Wiggins, Forward
4. Draymond Green, Forward
5. Kevon Looney, Center
6. Chris Paul, Guard
7. Dario Šarić, Forward
8. Gary Payton II, Guard
9. Jonathan Kuminga, Forward
10. Moses Moody, Forward
11. Cory Joseph, Guard
12. Brandin Podziemski (rookie), Guard
13. Trayce Jackson-Davis (rookie), Forward
14. OPEN
15. OPEN
16. Lester Quinones (qualifying offer), Guard
17. TWO-WAY
18. TWO-WAY
