NBA Summer League: Warriors announce roster

Golden State’s roster for Vegas includes some familiar faces, some draft picks, and a man named Sword

The Golden State Warriors will play in the California Classic in Sacramento and the NBA 2K24 Summer League in Las Vegas. We’ll take you through their roster for the July games, which includes 2023 draft picks, undrafted free agent, and a two-way player who’s primed for a bigger role. We’ll take you through all the players.

Yuri Collins: A 22-year-old point guard from Saint Louis University, Collins averaged over ten assists as a senior and also made the Atlantic 10 All-Defensive team twice. He’s only 6’0”, but having players who are willing passers is invaluable in summer exhibitions. Collins has a Warriors connection from playing with Larry Hughes Jr.

Kendric Davis: The Warriors grabbed another high-scoring point guard from Memphis. Davis is 5’11 and averaged 21.9 points as a fifth-year college player, after a few high-scoring years at SMU. He’s 24 years old and not a prospect, so he may be auditioning for European clubs this summer.

Trayce Jackson-Davis: Golden State took Jackson-Davis, a four-year player from Indiana University, with the No. 57 pick. You can read more about him here, but the big man is a better prospect than his draft position indicated. It helped that his agent is James Dunleavy, and the Warriors’ new GM promised him a roster spot. So you’ll be seeing TJD, a second-generation Warriors whose father Dale played 36 games with the team, in the regular season as well as the summer.

Mikael Jantunen: Jantunen is a 6’8” forward from Finland who played professionally in Belgium and Italy the last two seasons, though he only just turned 23. He’ll join other famous NBA Finns like All-Star Lauri Markkanen, former Atlanta Hawk Hanno Möttölä, and Warriors hype man Franco. Klay Thompson will like Jantunen because his birthday is 4/20, and Steph Curry will like him because he can drain ridiculous halfcourt shots.

Javan Johnson: 24-year-old forward out of DePaul can really shoot from the outside. The team gave him an Exhibit 10 deal, which may suggest he’s a candidate for the Santa Cruz Warriors. More on Johnson here.

Jayce Johnson: Johnson is a 25-year-old seven-footer who started 27 games from Santa Cruz last season. He led the G League in rebounds with 13.5 per game, and was particularly good on the offensive glass. Johnson was 7th in the league in blocks, averaged 9.4 points, and shot 100% on three-pointers – he made the only one he took.

Gabe Kalscheur: Another older prospect, the 24-year-old Kalscheur is a defensive-minded 6’4”, 200-pound guard from Iowa State. He led the Cyclones in minutes while making the Big 12’s All-Defensive Team and the overall Big 12 second team. Not a consistent shooter, but not really bad at anything, so he could land in Santa Cruz if he shows something in the summer.

Adam Kunkel: He’s a skinny 6’4” guard from Xavier who worked out for the Warriors before the draft. Kunkel shot 42.5% for the Musketeers last year as they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, hitting five triples in two of their three games. He’s so slight that he planned to take a redshirt year to put on weight as a freshman, but his shooting is legit.

Isiaha Mike: He may be the Canadian version of Isaiah Joe. Mike has played professionally in three different countries, most recently for Jeunesse Laïque de Bourg-en-Bresse in the top French league. In 2022, the 6’8” power forward had a great season in the top Canadian league. Continuing a trend in these summer players, Mike is older (25) but a good shooter – 36% from three, 49% overall. Probably heading back to Europe. Or Canada.

Reggie Perry: Perry was the No. 57 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the same spot as Jackson-Davis this year, though Perry is actually a month younger. He’s a good athlete and rebounder, but undersized for a center at 6’9”, 250 pounds. Perry has spent most of his pro career in the G League, with Raptors 905 the last two years, and a two-way contract with the Nets his rookie year. This is absolutely a player auditioning for a role on the Santa Cruz Warriors and possibly a two-way contract.

Brandin Podziemski: He’s the Warriors’ first-round pick and a knockdown shooter who we wrote about here. The Santa Clara guard will get a lot of minutes at Summer League unless he gets hurt or dominates so much that the Dubs shut him down.

Lester Quiñones: A college teammate of James Wiseman, Quiñones got a two-way deal after the draft last year, lost the deal to Ty Jerome, and regained the two-way spot when Anthony Lamb got a real contract late. Quiñones was the G League’s Most Improved Player and a member of the All-Rookie team last year, averaging 21.8 points. Sadly, he has stopped doing air guitar after he makes a three-pointer. Quiñones is a strong candidate for a two-way contract.

Gui Santos: A 6’7” Brazilian drafted No. 55 by the Warriors last year, Santos showed enough in Santa Cruz to make the Next Up game. Santos actually too ka pay cut to leave his pro team in Brazil, He just turned 21, which might be a little young for the new “one timeline” approach, but one can imagine him getting a two-way. Or a modeling contract.

Adam Seiko: He’s a sharpshooting 6’3” guard from San Diego State who made it to the title game with the Aztecs last year. He’s also 25 years old and averaged 5.8 points last year. More of a “Remember That Guy?” than a guy Golden State is seriously looking at, so he’s more California Classic than Vegas Summer League.

Craig Sword: If this guard manages to make the team, there will be a run on his jersey from Warriors fans with ponytails, nunchucks mounted on their basement walls, a fascination with samurai, or all three. Sword is 29 years old and his NBA experience consists of three games for the Washington Wizards in 2021-22. He’s 6’3”, gets steals, and is mainly here to fill out the roster and maybe see Penn & Teller’s show at the Rio.