Good news, the Warriors have finally signed the big man!
Li Kaier signed first and then changed to join the Golden State Warriors, signing for 27 million in three years! The Warriors gave away a future second-round pick and some cash in the deal, and according to sources, Lee Kyle fits the trade exception created by the Thompson trade and is compensation for Thompson's departure.
Kyle Anderson, the 30th pick in the first round in 2014 who was selected by the Spurs as a swingman, inherited the label of "Spurs must be a high-quality product", moved to the Grizzlies after four seasons with the Spurs, and played a personal career representative season in the 2020-21 season of the Grizzlies, playing 69 games in a single season. He averaged 27.3 minutes per game, averaging 12.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists, and also joined the Timberwolves after four seasons with the Grizzlies, and signed with the Golden State Warriors after two seasons with the Wolves.
Combined with the performance of the Timberwolves this season, it is actually not good, and it is even a downward trend compared to the previous season. He played in 79 games in the regular season, started 10 games, played an average of 22.6 minutes per game, and was able to score 6.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists, shooting 46%, 22.9% and 70.8% from three.
The least acceptable of these is the three-point shot, but the three-point shooting rate of his entire career has been able to reach 33.8% of the passing line, and it has reached an excellent level of 41% in the first year of joining the Timberwolves, but this season has ushered in a big dive, and even the average number of three-point shots per game has dropped from 1.5 the previous year to 0.6, which is far from the average of 3.8 per game at its peak.
As a player with a height of 206 and a weight of 104, such a figure is definitely a big man when he comes to the Warriors, so the first question after facing Li Kaier after joining the Warriors should not be unfamiliar:
Can he play as a small-ball center?
Combined with past performance, Kyle Lee had the experience of playing as the team's center during his time with the Grizzlies, and in the last two seasons with the Grizzlies, he played nearly 30% of the team's No. 5 position. But in the following season, he came to the Timberwolves, and the team welcomed Gobert to join, and there was still a big man Towns in the team, and under the team's two-tower system, Lee Kyle played the team's No. 3 position most of the time.
As for the positioning of the team after coming to the Warriors, according to a versatile player like Li Kaier, although he can play the team's No. 5 position, from the perspective of personal discussion, it is best not to completely limit him to the small-ball No. 5 position, and can occasionally make cameo appearances as a center in a limited time, and he can also take on this responsibility well with his excellent game quotient; But given his versatility, it's more desirable that he can take on the role of the glue of the team, similar to Iguodala's previous role.
From the perspective of the team's adaptability, Li Kaier's excellent basketball IQ can fully support the team's response needs after Green's departure, at least a better interior option than the previous Saric one. In addition to the ability to respond to the organization, Li Kaier's three-point shooting needs to be observed, after all, he also belonged to the ranks of stable shooters before, but in recent years, the desire to shoot has become lower and lower, considering his age and game status, the factor of level degradation should be unlikely, and it is likely to be a problem with the lineup and team system.
But for the Warriors, it is enough to be able to play his ability to play consistently, referring to last season's average of 4.2 assists per game and only 1.2 turnovers, which is enough data for the Warriors to pay.
Follow-up actions
This signing should be the only year in the past decade that the Warriors can sign free agents in the free market other than base salary and mini-mid-range, and even the previous D'Antoni Melton, which is also a full middle class that we haven't seen in the Warriors' signing list for a long time
Referring to the current Warriors' roster, they are Curry, Wiggins, Green, Payton Jr., Lee Kyle, Melton, Kuminga, Moody, Podzemski, Looney, Jackson Davis, Lindy Waters, Beekman, Post, Spencer.
At present, the total salary of the team is 167 million, and there is still about 3 million space from the salary tax limit. Especially considering that the two have already got high-quality replacements in their positions, there is a great possibility of pushing forward with the deal.
However, even if they don't choose to trade, the Warriors can still rely on the follow-up contract to only sign a base salary contract to keep the team's salary below the tax line and successfully complete the team's official rotation list.
In general, if you take Li Kaier at this node, if the chemistry is proper in the future, the Warriors can stay in the team for their own use. And if the effect is not good, the average annual salary of 9 million is also very high-quality as a trading chip package, and it is a plus point of signing on the whole.