NBA Opening Day: Former Warriors on NBA roster

Welcome to day one of the 2024-25 NBA season! We’ll have to wait a day to see the Golden State Warriors, but there’s a fun doubleheader tonight on TNT: The Boston Celtics host the New York Knicks, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves.

One of my favorite things to do at the start of the season is to take stock of where all of the former Warriors are playing. Here’s a team-by-team list of where all the former Dubs are playing their NBA games this year.

Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics
No one

As the Celtics look to become the first team since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 to repeat as NBA champions, they will look to do so without former Warriors on their roster. Bold choice.

Brooklyn Nets
No one

It feels like there is rarely a crossover between the Warriors and Nets. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx it and arrange a trade for Ben Simmons. Or maybe I hopefully did…

Toronto Raptors
Chris Boucher

This is now Boucher’s seventh NBA season since his debut in 2017-18 as a two-way player, spending the entire year on the roster but playing just one minute for the Warriors. He played all of his post-Warriors seasons with the Raptors and quietly developed into a premier role player there.

Philadelphia 76ers
Kelly Oubre Jr.
Jeff Dowtin Jr. (two-sided)
Lester Quiñones (two-sided)

Quiñones, who played the last two seasons (his only one in the NBA) for the Warriors and was on a two-way contract for most of them, now gets a chance to crack Philly’s rotation. The Warriors loved Q, but their backcourt was just way, way, way too full. Dowtin was also a two-way player for the Dubs, although he only appeared in four games for them during the 2021-22 season (in total, Dowtin has played in 46 games for five different teams). And of course, who could forget the Oubre era? He appears to have carved out a good role for himself in Philly, on a Sixers team that traded off Paul George, Golden State’s big offseason target.

New York Knicks
No one

New York seemed primed to have a beloved former Warrior before trading Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns as part of the massive preseason trade.

Central Department

Chicago Bulls
No one

The Bulls don’t have any former Warriors, but they do have a player (Zach LaVine) that many Dubs fans want the Warriors to trade for, and another player (Chris Duarte) that many wanted the Warriors to trade for instead of Jonathan Kuminga or Jonathan Kuminga Drafted Moses Moody if he had fallen that far (thank goodness that didn’t happen).

Cleveland Cavaliers
Ty Jerome

Jerome is a feel-good Warriors story, as he parlayed a strong performance with the Warriors last offseason into a two-year, fully guaranteed, $5 million deal with Cleveland on a two-way contract. Unfortunately, he only played two games before suffering a season-ending injury. We hope this year goes better for him.

Kudos also go to Georges Niang, who didn’t play for the Golden State Warriors but signed a camp contract with the team – and then played for the Santa Cruz Warriors – before establishing himself as a top NBA player.

Detroit Pistons
No one

With no connection to the Warriors, it’s really hard to find reasons why anyone should watch the Pistons games this year.

Indiana Pacers
James Wiseman

Wiseman Watch returns! After a year and a half with the Pistons, the former No. 2 overall pick will look to live up to his previous recruiting hype in Indiana, where he’ll learn behind a top-tier center in Myles Turner.

Milwaukee Bucks
Ryan Rollins (two-sided)

If you look closely, you can find many connections to the Bucks. There’s Oakland native Damian Lillard and Stanford star Brook Lopez. There’s Dorell Wright’s brother and someone whose last name is “Livingston.” But the only real connection is to Rollins, the Warriors’ second-round draft pick in 2022, who is still trying to find his place in the NBA — he has played just 25 games in his first two seasons.

Some of the non-Warriors news that probably isn’t of interest to anyone but me is that the Bucks have two players named “AJ” on their roster. Plus someone whose initials are “AJ.” Imagine that.

Southeast Division

Washington Wizards
Patrick Baldwin Jr.
Jordan Poole

The 2023-24 season was not the Wizards debut that either player envisioned. Having finally managed to step out of the shadow of Steph Curry and the wrath of Draymond Green, Poole struggled with the role of leading scorer, had a highly inefficient season and was even left out of the starting lineup. After hearing fans complain that the Warriors couldn’t find playing time for him, Baldwin barely found playing time on a 15-win team.

Washington gets bonus points for signing Saddiq Bey, who was included in the Wiseman trade. At first it looked like he was going to end up in Golden State before we all found out it was a four-team deal that sent Bey to Atlanta.

Atlanta Hawks
No one

I’ll say it now: This Atlanta team is going to be very difficult to watch. And it’s not because there’s a lack of Golden State alumni.

Orlando magic
Cory Joseph

Joseph left with the Dubs last year but was a salary drop at the trade deadline, although he didn’t play again that year. This will be his seventh team and 14th NBA season…impressive!

Orlando also has Golden State Summer League legend Mac McClung on a two-way contract. I’m rooting for McClung, even though my mentions will be absolutely ruthless if he succeeds in Orlando. Warriors fans firmly believed that McClung was a good player who should have been on the roster last year, even though no other team played him after the Dubs waived him. He has only played four games in his career.

Miami Heat
Alec Burkes

It’s hard to believe, but this will be Burks’ fifth season since playing for the Warriors. And it is his 14th season overall and his eighth team. He has also teamed up with former Almost Warrior Kevin Love and Future Warrior Jimmy Butler.

Charlotte Hornets
No one

The Hornets may not have any former Warriors, but they do have Seth Curry, Steph’s brother and former Santa Cruz Warrior. They also have LaMelo Ball, who was available when the Warriors drafted Wiseman. Try not to think about it for too long.

Northwest Division

Minnesota Timberwolves
Donte DiVincenzo

DDV seemed upset about being traded from the Knicks to the Wolves, but I’m excited to see him in Minnesota. He’s such a fun player who should be a great fit for this very, very good team.

Oklahoma City Thunder
No one

The Thunder don’t have any former Warriors, but if Steve Kerr has his way, they definitely have one Future Warrior in Alex Caruso.

Denver Nuggets
Dario Sarić

Dario seemed like a perfect fit for the Warriors’ offense, although it didn’t always work as well as many (myself included) imagined. He also seems like a perfect fit for Denver’s offense, so we’ll see how that plays out.

Portland Trail Blazers
No one

I’ll just say this: Don’t watch Blazers games. Except, you know, the ones where the Warriors play. Like at the season opener on Wednesday, for example.

Utah Jazz
No one

The Warriors tried like hell to trade Lauri Markkanen, but he remains in Salt Lake City on an otherwise incredibly boring basketball team.

Pacific Division

Los Angeles Lakers
D’Angelo Russell

For reasons I can’t fully explain, I still find it strange that DLo was once a warrior. What’s even funnier is that his stint only lasted 33 games.

LA Clippers
No one

The Clippers may not have any former Warriors, but they certainly have two quality players in Kawhi Leonard and James Harden who have a long history with the Dubs.

Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant
Damion Lee

I don’t really remember Durant. Was he good? Can someone refresh my memory?

Lee hopes to bounce back in his third year with the Suns after missing the entire 2023-24 season due to injury.

Sacramento Kings
No one

No former Warriors on the roster, but Mike Brown is the head coach and Leandro Barbosa is one of his assistants.

Southwest Division

Memphis Grizzlies
No one

The Grizzlies don’t have any former Warriors, which is probably a good thing since the teams seem to hate each other. However, never forget that the Grizzlies planned to target Draymond as a free agent last year.

New Orleans Pelicans
No one

No former Warriors on the Pelicans either, but that’s only because the Dubs haven’t swung a package for Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III yet.

Houston Rockets
No one

The Rockets have two J. Greens on their roster, but neither does J. Green, who recently played for the Warriors.

San Antonio Spurs
Harrison Barnes
Chris Paul

“Chris Paul, Warriors point guard” was strange and took some getting used to, but somehow “Chris Paul, former Warriors point guard” is even stranger and may take even longer to get used to. But I’m glad Senator Barnes is working with Gregg Popovich. That makes me happy.

Dallas Mavericks
Klay Thompson

Save the best for last.