Warriors Sign Top Free-Agent Point Guard Available

The Golden State Warriors and Brandon Williams agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal, his agents told ESPN's Shams Charania.

Williams was the best free-agent point guard left on the market. The 26-year-old averaged 13.0 points and 3.9 assists in 66 games (15 starts) with the Mavericks last season.

Williams becomes the 14th Golden State player with a standard contract. The Warriors have one more standard contract to hand out.

After the Warriors lost Pat Spencer to the Suns in free agency, they didn't have a true backup point guard for Stephen Curry on the roster. De'Anthony Melton and Brandin Podziemski would have been forced into more ball-handling responsibilities like they were last year.

With Williams in town, Podz and Melton will do more secondary ball-handling, which is a better fit for them.

Williams Scouting Report

Williams' biggest strengths are his ball-handling, speed and athleticism. He scores most of his points driving and finishing in the paint.

His one major weakness is his three-point shot. Williams' career three-point percentage is 28.0 percent, and last year's percentage was just 23.2.

This allows teams to play off him, which has the negative effect of giving everyone else a little less space on offense.

But despite that, the Mavericks were 4.9 points per 100 possessions better on offense with Williams on the court last season, per Cleaning the Glass.

At 6'1", Williams' height makes him a target on defense. The Mavs were 2.7 points worse on defense with him on the court.

Warriors Depth Chart

Williams slides in right behind Curry in the point guard rotation:

Point guards: Curry, Williams
Shooting guards: Podz, Melton, Will Richard, Gary Payton II
Small forwards: Gui Santos, Jimmy Butler (injured), Moses Moody (injured)
Power forwards: Draymond Green, Yaxel Lendeborg
Centers: Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Charles Bassey

Ideally, the Warriors would get more small forward depth with their last spot, but lengthy wings with talent are the hottest commodities on the market. It's possible the Warriors don't think any of the available ones are worth rostering, Plus, Lendeborg will slide down to the 3 while the Dubs wait for Butler and Moody to get healthy.

So this final roster spot could instead go to a stretch-4 like Georges Niang or another center like Kelly Olynyk.

The last option is to roster another small guard in LJ Cryer.

He's currently on a two-way contract, but he certainly has the talent to get a standard NBA deal.

My guess is the Williams contract will keep Cryer on a two-way, meaning this last spot will go to Niang or Olynyk.

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