According to multiple reports the Warriors have agreed to re-sign forward Marquese Chriss to a two-way contract. Chriss was waived last week to avoid having his contract becoming fully guaranteed for the rest of the season. The move saved the Warriors $861,760 against the hard cap, or apron.
January 15 is the deadline to sign players to two-way contracts. This will prompt several teams to convert their two-way players to standard contracts so they can add new players to those newly available two-way slots.
Both two-way slots on the Warriors roster are currently occupied by Damion Lee and Ky Bowman. It was reported last week by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that the Warriors plan on converting Lee onto the regular-season roster. It hasn’t happened yet, but they will presumably do so by the end of January 15 in order to free up a two-way slot for Chriss.
Lee’s minimum salary decreases every day by $9,156. Had they signed him to a prorated minimum contract on January 7 when Wojnarowski first reported the Warriors plan to convert him, his cap hit would’ve been $915,573. That would’ve left them $321,112 below the apron.
By signing Lee to a prorated minimum contract on January 15, his cap hit will be $842,327. This would leave the Warriors $394,358 below the apron, a $73,246 higher cushion versus converting him on January 7.
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The significance of those savings is that it allows the Warriors to potentially convert Chriss onto the regular-season roster once his prorated 24-day two-way clock runs out without needing to trade anyone. According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Chriss is likely to earn the Warriors’ final roster spot.
There had been several reports that the Warriors were looking to trade a role player in order to create sufficient space below the apron to convert Lee. Now the Warriors have a pathway to convert Lee and potentially Chriss later in the season without needing to trade anybody.
If the Warriors do not make a salary-reducing trade, the earliest they can convert Chriss onto the regular-season roster would be March 4, assuming he signs a prorated minimum deal for the rest of the season. If the Warriors want to sign him to a multi-year deal, the earliest he could sign it is on March 6.
It is unclear what this means for Bowman, who as of January 6 only had six days remaining on his two-way clock. It is still possible that the Warriors could make a trade that would give them more apron space to convert Bowman as well. Otherwise, he must remain with the Santa Cruz Warriors.