The Warriors are getting creative down the stretch with their roster in an effort to keep their two-way guys around.
Golden State announced it has signed Lester Quiñones to a 10-day contract Thursday, which was initially reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania Wednesday. As Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported, the move unlocks more games of NBA eligibility for two-way players Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome.
The rotation is pretty backed up right now, but Quiñones has been balling out with the G League Santa Cruz Warriors lately. He dropped 42 points in his latest contest Saturday on 15-of-29 shooting, including 8-of-18 from 3-point land.
A day later, Quiñones was spotted by the @GSWReddit account at the Warriors-Timberwolves game at Chase Center standing in line with teammate Jerome Robinson for a lobster roll. Now he’ll be suiting up with the squad for the final two games of the homestand before heading out on a road trip.
Listed at 6-foot-4, 208 pounds, Quiñones went undrafted out of Memphis in 2022. In 21 G League contests this season, he’s averaging 20.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game and held a two-way contract spot this summer before the Warriors ended up going with Lamb and Jerome.
Under NBA rules, two-way players can play up to 50 games a season before they have to be offered a full-time roster spot to keep on appearing in games. That’s if you have a 15-man roster, but the Warriors have been playing with a 14-man roster all season, which actually capped their two-way games limit to 90 instead of 100.
Given that Lamb has played in 47 contests and Jerome has suited up for 43, the Warriors wouldn’t have been able to play the two-way guys Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers without the Quiñones signing.
Golden State can sign Quiñones to a pair of 10-day contracts, so the team potentially could have a 20-day runway to decide what to do with Lamb and Jerome. The Warriors play 11 games in the next 20 days.
Steph Curry’s imminent return and the team’s guard depth could give Lamb the inside track on a full-time spot, especially considering Lamb only has three NBA games left.
