The Golden State Warriors have agreed to a deal with Willie Cauley-Stein, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reports. Cauley-Stein has spent the past four seasons with the Sacramento Kings.
Given that Cauley-Stein was extended a qualifying offer by the Kings last week, he’d technically be a restricted free agent unless that offer had been quietly withdrawn. We saw a similar scenario yesterday with Jordan Bell.
Free agent center Willie Cauley-Stein has reached an agreement with the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. @ThompsonScribe first.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 2, 2019
ESPN’s Bobby Marks speculated such a scenario on June 30. When the Kings agreed to their deal with point guard Cory Joseph, it’s likely that they would have found that cap space by withdrawing the Cauley-Stein offer.
If the Warriors are able to hang on to Cauley-Stein, they’ll add a big fresh off a campaign in which he averaged 11.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He’ll join Kevon Looney in the frontcourt of a team that will look significantly different in 2019-20.
The 25-year-old spent his first four NBA seasons with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings allowed Cauley-Stein to hit unrestricted free agency after it was reported that he wanted a fresh start. Sacramento reportedly reached an agreement with Dewayne Dedmon to bring in as a replacement.
