Warriors’ Lee hopes to follow childhood friend’s path to NBA
SACRAMENTO — Two-way contract player Damion Lee splits his time between two Warriors teams: the back-to-back NBA champions and their G League affiliate in Santa Cruz.
“The beauty of it is, I’ve got a 2017 Honda Accord, so at least I’ve got good mileage,” Lee said after Friday morning’s shootaround at Golden 1 Center.
Lee hopes to follow the path paved by childhood friend Quinn Cook last season, parlaying a two-way contract into a guaranteed deal with the Warriors. The good news for Lee: Unlike last season, when Golden State had to waive Omri Casspi to free up a postseason roster spot for Cook, the team already has an open slot.
If the Warriors decide they need Lee in the playoffs, they can convert his two-way deal into a guaranteed contract. Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said such flexibility was “the idea when we started the season” with only 14 players — one shy of the league maximum — on the roster.
“That’d be huge,” Lee said of potentially securing the Warriors’ 15th spot. “But for me, it’s just coming in day by day, trying to work and prove that I’m an NBA player. There’s a reason I’m on that two-way. That means there’s things that I need to work on to really solidify myself.”
Lee has hushed many who thought he didn’t belong in the NBA. Finally healthy after two torn ACLs in a three-year span, he provides Golden State another shooter off the bench, averaging 4.9 points on 43.4 percent shooting — 41.4 percent from threepoint range — in 13.1 minutes per game.
With his brother-in-law, Stephen Curry, sidelined last month because of a groin injury, Lee helped lift the Warriors out of stagnant offensive stretches with timely jumpers. What most impressed Kerr in Lee’s 13-point outings Nov. 17 against Dallas and Nov. 21 against Oklahoma City was that he wasn’t overwhelmed by the NBA stage.
“He’s fearless,” Kerr said. “If he’s open, he’s going to let it go. He’s helped us win some games. With the injuries that we’ve had, we’ve really needed his minutes.”
In five G League games, Lee has been dominant, averaging 25.8 points on 52.2 percent shooting (42.3 percent from beyond the arc), 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals. Because Lee’s two-way contract only permits him to spend 45 days with Golden State, the team has gotten creative to maximize his time.
On days when the Warriors hold short practices, they make sure Lee is assigned to Santa Cruz. Two-way player development coach Luke Loucks shows him video from Golden State’s workout session so Lee doesn’t fall behind.
A third of the way through the season, Lee has used only 19 of his 45 allotted days with Golden State. Several months before the Warriors must decide whether to sign him to a guaranteed deal for the playoffs, he isn’t pondering what-ifs.
Golden State might use its final roster spot on someone who becomes available on the buyout market. In the meantime, Lee is peppering Cook — his AAU buddy in Maryland long before Cook got a guaranteed NBA contract — with questions about how to make the most of a twoway deal.
“I was so happy for Quinn last year, just knowing everything that he’s been through, knowing him for the past 12, 13 years,” Lee said. “It’s motivation.”