Report: 2 players likely to leave Warriors

Mar 20, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr encourages his players during the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

After their NBA championship victory, the Golden State Warriors may be giving two particular players the “thank you for your service” handshake.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic is reporting on Wednesday that the Warriors have declined to extend qualifying offers to forward Juan Toscano-Anderson and guard Chris Chiozza, making them unrestricted free agents. Slater adds that both players are unlikely to return to Golden State.

Granted, neither player really had very much of an impact on the Warriors’ success this past season. Toscano-Anderson (though he did make 73 regular season appearances as an injury fill-in for guys like Klay Thompson) played just 3.5 minutes per game in the playoffs in almost exclusively garbage time run. Chiozza played even less, appearing in 34 regular season games and not playing at all in the postseason. The biggest contribution that either player made was probably an appearance in this viral video during the Finals.

There are more weighty free agent issues facing Golden State this offseason though. In particular, they will be looking to bring back this other player who is drawing interest from a rival.