Grading Warriors' Decision to Draft Lajae Jones with No. 54 Pick

The Golden State Warriors selected Florida State small forward Lajae Jones with the No. 54 pick of the 2026 NBA draft.

The 6'7" 22-year-old averaged 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks per game during the 2025-26 season.

His swing skill will be three-point shooting, as he shot just 32.5 percent from three for FSU. He was at 38.9 percent in the previous season with St. Bonaventure.

Jones' last college game was one of the best of his career. He had 28 points against Duke, scoring multiple times one-on-one on No. 3 pick Cam Boozer.

Grading the Pick

Even after taking Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th pick of the draft (whose draft grade is here), the Warriors need more wings.

Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody will both miss at least half of the 2026-27 season. Lendeborg and Gui Santos will play most of the minutes at the 3, but if either of them suffers a minor injury, there will be huge minutes opportunities.

My guess is the Warriors will address the small forward position in free agency. But it doesn't hurt to have Jones, who I expect will sign a two-way contract.

Every team gets three two-way roster spots, and only two of Golden State's are currently filled. LJ Cryer is a talented guard, but he won't help the Warriors when they are having wing depth issues. Malevy Leons is a do-it-all 6'9" forward, but he's more of a big than a wing.

Jones was among several wings who were in consideration to be taken late in the second round, so the value feels correct.

But it's not an A grade because the Warriors could have had Ugonna Onyenso if they traded up just one spot.

The Virginia center is very raw offensively, but he was worth betting on with his 7'4.75" wingspan. He even had a workout with Golden State.

A handful of other teams used cash to trade up a few spots, including the Hawks, who traded from 57th to 52nd with the Clippers to get Henri Veesaar.

Onyenso, who went 53rd overall to the Knicks, was reportedly traded to the Pistons for cash. So I question why the Warriors didn't make some type of move for him involving cash, although doing so would've hard-capped them at the second apron.

I doubt the Warriors will spend enough this free agency to get close to the second apron.

But the final result is pretty good. The Warriors get more wing depth, which is a slightly bigger need than center depth.

Grade: B+

Add us as a preferred source on Google