The Golden State Warriors are putting out all the brakes as they prepare to compete in the NBA Play-In Tournament. On Saturday, the Warriors made an under-the-radar move to shore up their depth.
While Garuba has only played in five NBA games this season, he comes with plenty of experience. He played in 99 games across two seasons for the Houston Rockets, averaging about 11.5 minutes per game. This season, the Spanish international has mostly been playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s G-League affiliate. He averaged 12.5 points and 10.1 rebounds across 21 games.
Truthfully, Garuba is unlikely to get postseason minutes unless one of the other big men get hurt. However, should anything happen to Draymond Green, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kevon Looney, or Dario Saric, the 2021 first-round pick will be next in line to get some run.
With the Warriors being the NBA’s shortest team, the 6-foot-8 power forward could be crucial to their interior defense. Golden State entered the season with an average height of just 6 feet and 5.4 inches, via Homeschoolhoop.com. For context, that’s 2.5 inches less than the Denver Nuggets , who rank as the league’s tallest squad. In a game that can often come down to slim margins, that could be the difference between a blocked shot or a game-winning buzzer beater.
Garuba may not have had enough time to create synergy with his teammates. He played only 2.4 minutes in five games this year, with his sole two points coming against the Utah Jazz on April 8th. However, he still has lots of ability to surprise people, as Warriors coach Steve Kerr stated on March 21st, via BasketNews.com.
“I really like ‘Usi’. He is a talented young player,” Kerr said. “He’s big and strong. He has a big wingspan so even though he’s not that tall, defensively he can match up with bigger, taller people.”
