Some players to root for!
Welcome to the first day of the 2024-25 NBA season! We have to wait a day to see the Golden State Warriors, but there’s a fun doubleheader tonight on TNT, with the Boston Celtics hosting 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 take stock of where all the former Warriors are playing. So here’s a list, team-by-team, of where all the former Dubs are playing their NBA hoops this year.
Atlantic Division
Boston Celtics
No one
As the Celtics look to become the first team to repeat as NBA champions since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, they’ll attempt to do so without any former Warriors on their roster. Bold choice.
Brooklyn Nets
No one
It feels like the Warriors and Nets rarely have any crossover. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx it and set up a Ben Simmons trade. Or maybe hopefully I did…
Toronto Raptors
Chris Boucher
This will now be Boucher’s seventh NBA season since he debuted in 2017-18 as a two-way player who, while spending the entire year on the roster, only played one minute for the Warriors. He’s played all of those post-Warriors seasons with the Raptors, where he’s quietly developed into a high-quality role player.
Philadelphia 76ers
Kelly Oubre Jr.
Jeff Dowtin Jr. (two-way)
Lester Quiñones (two-way)
Quiñones, who spent the last two seasons (his only in the NBA) playing for the Warriors, with most of that time on a two-way contract, now gets a chance to crack Philly’s rotation. The Warriors loved Q, but their backcourt was simply way, way, way too crowded. Dowtin was also a two-way player for the Dubs, though he appeared in just four games for them back in the 2021-22 season (in all, Dowtin has played in 46 games for five different teams). And of course, who could forget the Oubre era? He seems to have carved out a nice role in Philly, on a Sixers team that nagged Golden State’s big offseason target, Paul George.
New York Knicks
No one
New York looked primed to have one beloved former Warrior, before trading Donte DiVincenzo as part of the massive preseason trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Central Division
Chicago Bulls
No one
The Bulls don’t have any former Warriors, but they do have one player (Zach LaVine) who many Dubs fans want the Warriors to trade for, and another player (Chris Duarte) who many wanted the Warriors to draft instead of Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody, had he fallen that far (thank goodness that didn’t happen).
Cleveland Cavaliers
Ty Jerome
Jerome is a feel-good Warriors story, as he turned a strong performance with the Warriors on a two-way contract into a two-year, $5 million, fully-guaranteed deal with Cleveland last offseason. Unfortunately he played in only two games before suffering a season-ending injury. Here’s hoping this year goes better for him.
Also shoutout to Georges Niang, who didn’t play for the Golden State Warriors, but did sign a camp deal with the team — and then went on to play for the Santa Cruz Warriors — before establishing himself as a quality NBA player.
Detroit Pistons
No one
With no Warriors connections, it’s really hard to find reasons why anyone should watch 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 try to live up to his earlier prospect hype in Indiana, where he’ll get to learn behind a high-quality center in Myles Turner.
Milwaukee Bucks
Ryan Rollins (two-way)
If you squint, you can find a lot of 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 actual connection is Rollins, the Warriors’ second-round draft pick in 2022, who is still trying to find his place in the NBA — he’s only played in 25 games through his first two seasons.
In non-Warriors news that is probably uninteresting to everyone except me, the Bucks have two players named “AJ” on their roster, plus someone whose initials are “AJ.” Go figure.
Southeast Division
Washington Wizards
Patrick Baldwin Jr.
Jordan Poole
The 2023-24 season was not the Wizards debut that either player envisioned. Poole, finally getting to step out of Steph Curry’s shadow and Draymond Green’s anger, struggled in the role of go-to scorer, posting a highly-inefficient season and even getting removed from the starting lineup. Baldwin, after hearing fans complain about the Warriors not finding playing time for him, barely found any more playing time on a 15-win team.
Washington gets bonus points for having Saddiq Bey, who was included in the Wiseman trade, with it initially looking like he’d 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’m calling it now: this Atlanta team is going to be very difficult to watch. And not because of their lack of Golden State alumni.
Orlando Magic
Cory Joseph
Joseph broke camp with the Dubs last year, but was a salary dump at the trade deadline, though he didn’t play again that year. This will be his seventh team, and his 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 were adamant 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’s played just four games in his career.
Miami Heat
Alec Burks
Hard to believe it, but this will be Burks’ fifth season since he played for the Warriors. And it’s his 14th total season and eighth team. He’s 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 the 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 that one for too long.
Northwest Division
Minnesota Timberwolves
Donte DiVincenzo
DDV seemed upset to be traded from the Knicks to the Wolves, but I’m excited to watch him in Minnesota. He’s such a fun player who should fit brilliantly on that very, very good team.
Oklahoma City Thunder
No one
The Thunder don’t have any former Warriors, but if Steve Kerr gets his way, they definitely have a future Warrior in Alex Caruso.
Denver Nuggets
Dario Šarić
Dario seemed like a perfect fit in the Warriors offense, though it didn’t always work as well as many (myself included) envisioned. He also seems like a perfect fit in Denver’s offense, so we’ll see how that goes.
Portland Trail Blazers
No one
Just putting it out there: don’t watch any Blazers games. Except, you know, the ones the Warriors are in. Like Wednesday’s season opener.
Utah Jazz
No one
The Warriors tried like hell to trade for Lauri Markkanen, but he stays 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, it remains hilarious to me that DLo was once a Warrior. It’s even funnier that his stint only lasted 33 games.
LA Clippers
No one
The Clippers may not have any former Warriors, but they certainly have a pair of high-profile players who have lots of history with the Dubs in Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant
Damion Lee
I don’t really remember Durant. Was he good? Can anyone jog my memory?
Lee is hoping to bounce back in his third year with the Suns, after missing the entire 2023-24 season with an 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 have no former Warriors, which is probably a good thing, since the teams seem to hate each other. Never forget that the Grizzlies were planning on targeting Draymond in free agency last year, though.
New Orleans Pelicans
No one
Also no former Warriors on the Pelicans, 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 is the J. Green who recently played for the Warriors.
San Antonio Spurs
Harrison Barnes
Chris Paul
“Chris Paul, Warriors point guard” was weird and took some getting used to, but somehow “Chris Paul, former Warriors point guard” is even weirder and may take even longer to get used to. But I’m excited for Senator Barnes to be paired up with Gregg Popovich. That makes me happy.
Dallas Mavericks
Klay Thompson
Saving the best for last.