Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors gestures from the bench.
The Golden State Warriors made twin roster moves amid their surge to the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Before the Warriors beat the New York Knicks 114-102 on Tuesday, March 4, they made two roster moves.
First, they have converted Pat Spencer‘s two-way contract into a standard deal, the team announced. Then they signed Braxton Key into a two-way deal to take over Spencer’s previous spot.
Spencer, a former LaCrosse star in college, slots into the Warriors’ 14th spot in their roster which makes him eligible for the playoffs.
Spencer, 28, is averaging 2.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 7.0 minutes in 28 appearances for the Warriors this season. He would have only been eligible up to 55 games in the active lineup and would have been ineligible for the postseason as a two-way player.
“Pat’s just a great teammate, great worker, hell of an athlete obviously, with the lacrosse background,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, per Mercury News. “Fearless. Every time I throw him into a game, I feel good about it. So I’m a big fan, and he’s really added to kind of our fiber, just every day the work he puts in, the energy on the bench. He’s a really good guy to have on the squad.”
The Warriors (33-28) have won eight of their last 10 games and are 9-1 with trade deadline acquisition Jimmy Butler to get to the sixth seed with a half-game lead over the Los Angeles Clippers (32-28).
Ditching Sure-Fire LaCrosse Stardom for Uncertain NBA Career
Spencer doesn’t want to let go of this opportunity to realize his NBA dream after passing up on a LaCrosse career.
“It’s another step in the right direction,” Spencer told Mercury News. “Opportunity like I said to be part of a playoff roster hopefully here and have an impact.”
Spencer was a former Lacrosse star at Loyola, who reached the Final Four in 2016. He was the no. 1 pick in the Premier Lacrosse League’s inaugural draft in 2019. But he passed up on a professional Lacrosse career and pursued basketball in the remaining years of his college eligibility.
After using his college graduate year eligibility playing basketball at Northwestern, he signed with the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards team in the G League in 2021. Following his G League rookie year, he signed a training camp deal with the Warriors and then spent the next two seasons at Santa Cruz.
Braxton Key’s Championship DNA
On the other hand, Key appeared in 38 games with the San Diego Clippers in the NBA G League this season, averaging 14.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.2 blocks in 31.8 minutes.
The three-year NBA veteran owns career averages of 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in 7.8 minutes over 34 games with the Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets. The 6-foot-8 forward out of the University of Virginia went undrafted in 2021.
The Warriors are adding a proven winner in Key, who helped the Delaware Blue Coats win the NBA G League championship for the 2022-23 season and led the Virginia Cavaliers with 10 rebounds in the NCAA title game in 2019.
Warriors Are Co-Favorites to Land LaMelo Ball
The Warriors are among the favorites to land LaMelo Ball if the Charlotte Hornets star will be moved this summer.
Bovada has installed the Warriors as +750 co-favorites with the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic as Ball’s next team. The Toronto Raptors trail them with +1100 odds.
Ball is the next young star to watch in the trade market this summer, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on March 3, as the Charlotte Hornets are about to miss the playoffs for the ninth straight season. Their last playoff appearance was in the 2016-16 season when Ball was still a freshman at Chino Hills.
“Following the Luka Doncic trade, NBA executives around the league have expanded their horizons on which potential stars could be next to change teams. The availability of Hornets guard LaMelo Ball is one of the stars several executives who spoke with HoopsHype will be monitoring on the trade market this summer,” Scotto wrote.