Warriors' 2 Cuts Boost Chances for Summer League Standout to Make Roster

Reading the tea leaves after the Dubs cut two players who were on Exhibit-10 contracts

Mike Dunleavy Jr. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Golden State Warriors waived Deivon Smith and Chance McMillian on Wednesday, signaling that they expect both to begin the season with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

Smith and McMillian were on Exhibit-10 contracts, which means if they stay with Santa Cruz for 60 days after being waived, they will get $91,000 bonuses.

With Smith and McMillian likely out of the picture for any of the three two-way spots, the Warriors' training camp battle is clearing up.

The long story short is that it's good news for center Graham Ike, but let's go over how we got to that conclusion.

Boyd, Toohey, Terry Likely to Have Santa Cruz Contracts

Nick Boyd and Alex Toohey have two-way eligibility, so they could still factor into the two-way training camp battle.

But Boyd wasn't particularly impressive in summer league, and neither was Toohey in last year's summer league and G League play before suffering a long-term knee injury.

Dalen Terry is not eligible for a two-way contract. His only realistic route to an immediate roster spot is to beat out Brandon Williams so the Dubs release Williams, who has a non-guaranteed contract.

Terry, Boyd and Toohey will likely join McMillian and Smith in Santa Cruz for what will be a pretty loaded G League team.

Two-Way Battle Could Be 4 Players for 3 Spots

The four two-way spots could come down to LJ Cryer, Malevy Leons, Lajae Jones and Graham Ike.

At the moment, Cryer and Leons are under two-way contracts, but the Dubs could release one of them to open up one more spot.

Ike is on an Exhibit-10 contract he signed right after the draft, and the Warriors were probably planning on having him start his career on a G League deal. But his performance in summer league was clearly worthy of a two-way spot.

Ike averaged 10.0 points and 7.2 rebounds in nine summer-league games.

Jones is currently unsigned. Most second-round picks end up getting standard contracts or two-way contracts, but that isn't an obvious outcome for Jones after his average performance in summer league.

Jones averaged 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in nine summer-league games.

Ike's Chances of Getting Two-Way Go Up

Before Wednesday, I felt that Ike was ahead of Smith and McMillian in the two-way battle pecking order, but it only helps Ike's chances that the Dubs seemed confirm that.

If the Warriors were sure that they wanted Ike to start on a G League deal, they could have waived him on Wednesday too. That they didn't speaks volumes.

The Warriors' training camp starts on September 29 and their first preseason game is October 4. It's looking more and more like the Dubs will leave one two-way spot open for Ike or Jones.

If Ike impresses, they could look to stash Jones with an overseas team.