The Golden State Warriors continued fleshing out their bench Thursday, agreeing to a one-year contract with veteran big man Anderson Varejao. Varejao's PR firm passed along the news, per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers sent Varejao to the Portland Trail Blazers in a midseason salary dump and the Blazers waived him, he joined the Warriors in late February. He suited up in 22 regular-season games for Golden State, averaging 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.5 minutes.
The 33-year-old played intermittently throughout Golden State's postseason run but found himself thrust into a greater spotlight in the NBA Finals. Between Andrew Bogut going down with a knee injury in Game 5 and head coach Steve Kerr losing trust in Festus Ezeli, Varejao played 41 minutes against his former club throughout the Finals—just 10 fewer minutes than he did in the previous three series combined.
The results bordered on catastrophic when Varejao played during the regular season, as opponents outscored Golden State by 8.4 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. When the Brazilian sat, the Warriors outscored opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions. While those numbers are noisy—Varejao played with mostly bench-heavy units—his best basketball is clearly behind him.
Renowned as a locker room figure, Varejao has not been the same since tearing his Achilles in December 2014. His greatest contribution at this point might be the occasional offensive foul drawn when a referee falls for one of his patented flops.
These Warriors can't be picky about their bench bodies, however. The signing of Kevin Durant leaves them capped out, at the mercy of whichever free agent is willing to accept a minimum deal. They already lucked out with Zaza Pachulia signing for the room exception ($2.9 million) and David West taking the minimum.
Varejao should help fill out a veteran-laden group of bench bigs who will likely play behind Draymond Green and Pachulia. Rookie center Damian Jones and forwards Kevon Looney and James Michael McAdoo may also carve out roles.
With 14 players under contract, the Warriors' 2016-17 roster is essentially set. They may look for a veteran guard willing to ring-chase for the minimum—something they perhaps should have done before re-signing Varejao—but they have enough positional fluidity to keep them afloat. They likely won't want to go into the season relying heavily on Ian Clark or Patrick McCaw as Klay Thompson's primary backup.
Then again, general manager Bob Myers may decide to keep that roster spot free in case a tantalizing veteran gets bought out over the coming months.
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