Warriors trade former starter Lee for Celtics’ Wallace
OAKLAND, Calif. — David Lee wanted to help turn around the Golden State Warriors when he came to the struggling franchise as a high-priced free agent in 2010.
Five years later, Lee is leaving with a championship — and the respect of his teammates and loyal fans.
The Warriors agreed to trade the former All-Star forward to the Boston Celtics for Gerald Wallace on Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the deal said. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade can’t become official until the moratorium on NBA business ends Thursday.
Lee injured his left hamstring in the final preseason game and his role diminished with the emergence of Draymond Green, the runner-up for defensive player of the year. The NBA champion Warriors had been looking to trade Lee this summer to limit the team’s luxury tax hit next season.
It became a near certainty the Warriors would move Lee after agreeing to a five-year contract worth about $82 million with Green last week.
Lee is due about $15.4 million in the final year of his contract. Wallace is owed about $10 million next season.
But because Wallace’s contract was signed after the most recent collective bargaining agreement, the Warriors can use the stretch provision, and it will cost the team only about $3.3 million over the next three seasons — a huge tax savings.
Lee, 32, was the highest-paid player on the Warriors last season at about $15 million. He was someone the roster was built around after he was acquired in a sign-andtrade deal with the New York Knicks in July 2010, and Lee led the way his first few years with Golden State alongside newly minted MVP Stephen Curry.
While his defense — or lack of it — remained a source of debate, Lee was a double-double machine and co-captain with Curry until this past season. In 2013, Lee became the franchise’s first All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997.
But Lee lost his starting job when he got injured and Green excelled in his place. Lee played the fewest minutes of his career and averaged just 7.9 points per game — the lowest since his rookie year with the Knicks in 2005-06.
Whether there’s a role for Wallace on the Warriors is uncertain. The 6-7 forward, who was an AllStar in 2010 with Charlotte, played sparingly for the Celtics last season — his 14th in the NBA since Sacramento selected him 25th overall in the 2001 draft.