Warriors Face Play-In Roster Deadline for Bassey, Williams, Cryer, Leons

The Golden State Warriors have to decide by end of day Sunday who will fill their 15th roster spot for the play-in tournament and playoffs.

Players on two-way contracts are ineligible for the postseason, which means Williams, Cryer and Leons would be ineligible for Wednesday's play-in game unless their contracts are converted.

Bassey is currently under contract for that last roster spot, but the Warriors can easily release him if they want to convert one of the two-ways.

Let's break down what the Warriors should do.

Play-In Depth Chart

It's easy to see that the Warriors have depth issues in the frontcourt.

PG: Stephen Curry, Pat Spencer
SG: Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Will Richard, Seth Curry
SF: Gui Santos, Jimmy Butler (out for season), Moses Moody (out for season)
PF: Draymond Green
C: Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Quinten Post (currently injured)

If Post can't return by Wednesday, the Warriors will have just 11 healthy players on standard contracts, and just four of them will be taller than 6'4".

This is why the player they choose to fill the 15th roster spot should have the ability to play the frontcourt, but let's go over the argument that each has.

Case for Cryer

Cryer is the best offensive player of the four. Among currently healthy Warriors, he's fifth on the team in points per 36 minutes (18.2).

Aside from his lack of size (6'0") and the Warriors' depth at the guard positions, two things are working against Cryer.

First, he just sprained his ankle. I don't know how serious it is, but the Warriors need this player to be ready to go on Wednesday, even if it's only for a few minutes.

Second, Cryer is on a two-year, two-way contract. If the Warriors convert his contract, they better be sure they will be able to keep him in the offseason. It would be a major mistake if he somehow isn't on the roster next year, preferably on a two-way contract.

Case for Leons

At 6'9", Leons is the most versatile of the Warriors' options. Though he likely wouldn't have to, he's shown he can play small-ball center. And though he's probably best suited guarding 4s, he's athletic enough to guard 3s.

Leons has been dealing with a right wrist injury, but in Friday's game against the Kings, he knocked down a corner three, suggesting he's healthy enough to play in the play-in.

Like Cryer, Leons is on a two-year, two-way contract. He is the most raw of the four players here, so the Warriors are unlikely to convert him.

Case for Williams

When Williams is playing, he looks longer than 6'5". He's so active with his hands getting deflections and steals that the Warriors can reasonably trust him to guard a star small forward like Kawhi Leonard for a few possessions in the play-in tournament.

Williams has also been surprisingly efficient from the three-point line. He came into this season 11-of-39 (28.2 percent) from three in his NBA career, but he 12-of-27 (44.4. percent) with the Warriors.

Offensively, Williams doesn't bring much to the table. He's pretty much a catch-and-shoot specialist who can occasionally sneak in for an offensive rebound. He's very similar to Will Richard.

My guess is the Warriors would try Richard (6'3") as an undersized small forward before going to Williams, but it wouldn't hurt to have both on the roster as options.

Case for Bassey

Bassey appears to be getting major consideration for this roster spot seeing as he played seven minutes in the first three quarters of Friday's Kings game.

The Warriors had Porzingis and Horford playing in what was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the first three quarters, and yet Steve Kerr worked Bassey into the rotation.

That suggests the Warriors are considering rostering Bassey and giving him play-in minutes with either Horford or Porzingis that would make the team huge at the 4 and 5 spots.

With his 7'3" wingspan, Bassey has impressed in four games with Golden State.

Obviously it's a very small sample size, but Bassey is averaging 14.5 rebounds per 36 minutes. Among healthy Warriors, Gary Payton II is second on the team with just 8.4.

Final Prediction

I've been expecting Williams to get the nod for a couple weeks. The Warriors are so thin at small forward, and the fact that Williams did a decent job guarding Leonard on March 2 had me thinking it was a clear-cut choice.

But Bassey has won me over.

If one was given just a few minutes in a play-in game, I'd expect Bassey to be more impactful. His combination of rebounding, shot-blocking and power finishing is clearly worth an NBA roster spot.

The other thing the Warriors have to consider is the possibility Porzingis or Horford suffers an injury during the play-in/playoffs. If one of them goes down, then having Bassey would be very important.

The downside to choosing Bassey over Williams is that when Santos is sitting, the Warriors will be playing a guard 6'4" or shorter at small forward. But at this point, I'd rather see the Warriors play Stephen Curry, Melton and Podz together and live with the lack of size issues than play Williams just to have a little more length on the court.