Dragan Bender gave his career a boost during his brief time with the Golden State Warriors during the 2019-20 campaign.
Golden State Warriors forward Dragan Bender gave his career a much needed jolt in the Bay Area, and now he has the attention of other NBA teams.
According to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, Bender is garnering interest from teams as an “early free agent addition” for the 2020-21 season. Smith reported the Warriors are also interested in keeping Bender, who just finished his fourth season.
Bender, 22, played 16 games in the 2019-20 campaign, and nine of them were with the Warriors; the other seven were with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Hearing Dragan Bender is a player teams have their eyes on as an "early free agent addition" for 2020-21. The idea would be to sign him now with some guaranteed money for 20-21. Teams like what the only 22-year-old (yes, really!) did with GSW. Warriors would like to keep him too.
Dragan had one of the best stints of his young career with the Warriors. During his brief tenure with the team, he scored 9.0 points per game on 43.7% shooting, along with grabbing 5.9 rebounds a game.
As the No. 4 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Bender hasn’t played up to his draft slot. He started his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he only scored 5.3 points per game and grabbed 3.8 rebounds per game in three seasons.
Before Bender came to the Bay, he had signs of being a bust. But with his career being boosted with the Warriors, perhaps he can either stay with them or find another franchise where he could make an impact.
The versatile Dragan Bender has shot at least 40% from three in three of the six games he’s played for Golden State.
On the day that Golden State Warriors superstar guard Steph Curry is set to return (and against the reigning NBA champions, no less), ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has announced that forward Dragan Bender will be signing a second 10-day contract with the club.
Bender, the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, has played in six games for Golden State (with three starts) since signing his initial 10-day contract. The 7’0” Croatian Sensation has recorded averages of 7.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.7 steals in 23.3 minutes per game, showing he can impact the game in multiple ways in his time with the Warriors.
Dragan Bender is signing a second 10-day contract with Golden State, league source tells ESPN.
He’s only shooting 36.7% from the field and 29.2% from 3-point range but has shot at least 40% from deep in three of his six contests with the Dubs.
Earlier this week, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he would “love” for Bender to get another 10-day contract and it’s clear that Warriors general manager Bob Myers took heed. This is the last 10-day contract that Bender can sign with Golden State though, and they’ll have to sign him for the rest of the season or beyond after this, so the versatile forward may need to bring his A-game for the next week and a half if he wants to stay in the Bay Area.
Earning the second 10-day contract is certainly a positive sign that he has a fair chance of making that happen though.
Has Dragan Bender earned another 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors?
During the final stretch of the season, the Golden State Warriors are using the bank end of their roster to experiment with players on 10-day contracts. With 20 games left, Golden State has already circulated through five different players on 10-day deals.
The highest-profile player to come to Golden State on a 10-day contract is 2016 lottery pick, Dragan Bender. The former Phoenix Suns fourth overall draft pick was waived as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2019-20 season, leading him to the Warriors.
In six games with Golden State, the 22-year-old big man averaged 7.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game. Bender started three games during his stint with the Warriors, but struggled to show off his long-distance shot. The Croatian shot 29.2% from 3-point land on 24 attempts in six games.
Although his time in Golden State was up and down, Bender saved his best performance in the final game of his 10-day contract. The center scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two makes coming from beyond the arc. Bender added five rebounds and two assists in Golden State’s comeback win against the Denver Nuggets.
Steve Kerr spoke to reporters in Denver about Bender’s future with the team. Golden State’s coach said he wants to keep Bender around for another 10-days if possible.
I really like Dragan; I think he’s got a lot of potential. We’ll see what happens going forward. I would love to give him another 10 days if that’s possible. We’ll figure that out as an organization going forward. He’s got a lot of potential, obviously — the fourth pick in the draft, there’s a reason for that. I think he’s shown in the 10-days that if you give him a little confidence, you give him a chance to play and he can gain some confidence he can do a lot of good things out there. He’s helped us win two games in a season when we’ve not won a whole lot of games. He’s helped us win two of the last three and done a great job. He’s fighting; he’s competing. I really like him — I think he’s got a future in the league.
This was the final day of Dragan Bender’s first 10-day contract. Steve Kerr: “I’d love to give him another 10 days.” pic.twitter.com/qNBYDo4vSl
With injuries to Golden State’s frontcourt in Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Alen Smailagic, the Warriors have a need for a presence like Bender. The Warriors will have only one day off with Bender’s contract expired before the Toronto Raptors come to San Francisco on Thursday night.
Draymond Green will be out against the Sacramento Kings as he misses his second straight game due to a pelvic contusion.
As the news ramps up around the nearing return of Stephen Curry, another Golden State Warrior All-Star product is dealing with an injury. Draymond Green has been ruled out for the second straight game with a pelvic contusion.
Green will miss the Warriors’ Northern California rivalry game with the Sacramento Kings. The Michigan State product missed Zion Williamson’s debut at Chase Center with the same injury.
The contest versus the Kings will be Green’s 14th game he’s missed in the 2019-20 season due to injury. The former Defensive Player of the Year has missed games with back, finger, heel and ankle injuries this season.
According to Steve Kerr, Green is expected to return from injury against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Draymond Green is out tonight, but should be good to go Thursday against the Lakers, Kerr said.
Without Green, rookie Eric Paschall started at power forward for Golden State and tallied 13 points and five rebounds. The newest Warrior Dragan Bender played in his first game with the Warriors and played 20 minutes with Green out.
Green’s absence won’t make things easier against the Western Conference playoff-hopeful Sacramento Kings. The Kings have won five of their last seven, while Golden State is on a six-game losing streak.
Steve Kerr was impressed with Dragan Bender’s play in his Golden State Warriors debut after having zero practices with the team.
In the 2019-20 season, the Golden State Warriors rotation has spun into new groupings daily. The constant adjustments to the roster from either trades or injuries has given the Warriors an up and down rotation.
Since the trade deadline, Steve Kerr has sent out a fresh and unfamiliar group of players to the floor to represent the Warriors. A significant change for a team that made five straight NBA Finals appearances with a steady core.
The newest member of the Golden State Warriors is Croatian big man Dragan Bender. The former lottery pick signed a 10-day contract with the Warriors on Sunday, and only hours later made his debut at Chase Center in San Francisco against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Steve Kerr spoke to reporters after the Warriors’ loss to the Pelicans about Bender’s debut.
He’s got a lot of skill. We saw him knock down a couple of shots, make some passes. He’s got good size. Not a bad night for a guy who literally hasn’t had a practice with us — flew in last night. It’ll be good for him to get a couple of practices with us under his belt and get more comfortable as the week goes on.
Steve Kerr said that Dragan Bender flew in last night and played without practicing with Golden State at all 🤯 pic.twitter.com/wNZseYN5G9
The 22-year old played 20 minutes in his first game with the Warriors, scoring six points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field. Both of Bender’s makes came from beyond the arc.
The newest Warrior took advantage of the open playing time as Golden State was without both Draymond Green and Marquese Chriss due to injuries. Bender hasn’t played a game since Jan. 24, but registered the third-most minutes he’s received all season in his Golden State debut.
Bender has three games left to prove to Kerr and Golden State he belongs with the team after his 10-day contract expires.
Zion Williamson lived up to the hype against the Golden State Warriors, tallying 28 points and seven rebounds in his first game at Chase Center.
As the New Orleans Pelicans push towards a late playoff run, the Golden State Warriors were next in line trying to play spoiler.
The Warriors have struggled out of the gate throughout the season. Yet, against the Pelicans, the Dubs jumped out to an early lead. Damion Lee scored 15 of his Golden State game-high 22 points in the opening period on six of eight shooting from the field. Lee was able to knock down four three-pointers early, giving Golden State a 33-29 lead in the first quarter.
The Warriors went into the locker room with a 56-46 edge at halftime. However, when the second half started, the Pelicans took over.
Jrue Holiday exposed the Warriors’ young rotation, slowing down and controlling the game in the second half. Holiday finished the game with a near triple-double, tallying 23 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds. The UCLA product added 21 of his points along with 12 assists in the second half.
The 2019 top pick made his Chase Center debut and did not disappoint. The Duke product registered a game-high 28 points on 13-of-20 shooting, with seven rebounds and two assists. Williamson slammed down one of his signature dunks in a fast break against Golden State.
😱 Z I O N 😱
He has 20+ PTS for the 8th game in a row. #NBARooks
Down the final stretch of the season, who steps up from the back end of Golden State’s rotation, will be a critical factor in the future. The Warriors will need to find some in-house options for their roster next year with several expensive contracts already on the books.
Juan Toscano-Anderson made a case for a future roster spot with his performance against the Pelicans. Toscano-Anderson brought energy off the bench, scoring a career-high 16 points with eight rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.
Only hours after signing a 10-day contract, Dragan Bender made his Golden State Warriors debut against the Pelicans. The former lottery pick played 20 minutes and knocked down two 3-pointers.
Bender was active with his opportunity, punching numbers up and down the box score. The 22-year-old registered five rebounds, three assists and a block on Williamson. Bender will have three games left on his 10-day contract to prove to Golden State he belongs.
Draymond Green has been ruled out against the New Orleans Pelicans with a pelvic contusion.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have dominated the injury news surrounding the Golden State Warriors. However, it’s not just the “Splash Brothers” who have been hampered by the injury bug.
Draymond Green has missed 12 games and counting this season. Adding another to his list, Green has been ruled out with a pelvic contusion for Sunday night’s contest against the New Orleans Pelicans. Green has been absent from games this season with a back, finger, heel and ankle injuries.
Draymond Green (pelvic contusion) is out tonight vs. the Pelicans. Alen Smailagic has been recalled from Santa Cruz.
The former Defensive Player of the Year will miss the 2019 top draft pick Zion Williamson’s first game against the Golden State Warriors.
Eric Paschall has a chance to fill the role of Green, but behind the Villanova rookie, options are slim for Steve Kerr. Golden State’s coach will have to call on two young power forwards in Alen Smailagic and Dragan Bender off the bench.
Smailagic, only 19-years-old, has bounced back and forth between the Warriors G League affiliate in Santa Cruz and Golden State. The Serbian rookie has averaged 10 minutes per game in 13 contests this season.
The newest member of the Warriors, Bender, could see minutes in his first game in Golden State. Bender signed a 10-day contract with Golden State just hours before the Warriors are slated to tip-off against the Pelicans. Formerly with the Milwaukee Bucks, Bender has only played in seven games this season with his last appearance coming on Jan. 24.
Without Green, the Warriors will need all the help they can get as the Pelicans have won four of their last five contests. Since Williamson’s made his debut in late January, New Orleans has been victorious in seven of his 11 games. A combination of Paschall, Bender and Smailagic will get the task of slowing down the Duke product.
Dragan Bender couldn’t make it with the struggling Phoenix Suns. Will the new scenery in Golden State help him become an NBA player?
The Golden State Warriors signed Dragan Bender, another player who was drafted high in the lottery but couldn’t live up to expectations on his original team.
Bender, selected No. 4 overall by the Phoenix Suns in 2016, will reportedly sign a 10-day contract with the Warriors. He will join 2014 No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins and 2016 No. 8 pick Marquese Chriss as reclamation projects for Golden State.
Why was Bender drafted so high and how did he wind up in Golden State?
The beginning of that answer lies a year before he was selected. In 2015, Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis was drafted No. 4 by the New York Knicks. Porzingis was an original NBA unicorn as he possessed the stunning ability to block shots, shoot three-pointers and grab rebounds as a 7-foot-3 player.
Phoenix hoped Bender, listed at 7-foot-1, could be similar. But the comparison was never totally apt. Porzingis averaged 15-20 minutes per contest over 30 games over a two-year period on a team in the top Spanish league. He also averaged more than 20 minutes in the 2014-15 EuroCup.
Bender, meanwhile, had his first professional experience at the age of 15, but he didn’t get consistent minutes at a high level. He played ten total games with Maccabi Tel Aviv during 2015-16 EuroLeague and EuroCup and averaged less than ten minutes per game.
The front office for the Suns selected Bender with the hope of him developing into a strong contributor.
The big man quickly showed the ability to make smart passes. He improved as a defender. There were times when he looked like a legitimate NBA player.
But he lacked the confidence and aggression on offense to really make a difference on the poor Suns offense. Even on open looks beyond the arc, Bender would hesitate before committing to an action.
From 2017 until 2019, which were Bender’s second and third years in the league, more than 80% of his shots came without dribbling the ball and half his shots were wide open with at least six feet of space between him and the defender, according to NBA Advanced Stats. He only made 34.8% of them, a lower percentage than any in which a defender was closer than six feet away.
Bender didn’t show the propensity to drive and draw a foul or kick the ball out consistently. His confidence in his shot simply was not there.
In 2017-18, Bender played more than 25 minutes in 40 games. He took at least 10 shots only eight times. The next year, he took double-digit shots in six of 13 such games, but he only took more than 12 shots once.
But this wasn’t a team with offensive weapons like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. This was the 19-win Suns, desperately looking for a secondary scorer and any sort of playmaker behind Devin Booker.
Bender clearly wasn’t Porzingis, but when he played well, he looked like he had the potential to be like Dario Saric — a smart defender and passer and a big man who can shoot three-pointers.
When he wasn’t on, though, he looked like he was still worried he was a 16-year-old getting eight minutes a game against adults overseas.
Former Suns teammate Josh Jackson summarized how the team was trying to help Bender less “timid” during the 2018 offseason.
Phoenix eventually declined Bender’s option for the 2019-20 season and he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. He only played seven games for them, but in the G League, he posted 20.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game and shot better than 50% from the field and 38% from 3.
The Warriors hope they can help build his confidence and turn the now-22-year-old into an NBA contributor. They’ve already done that with Chriss, another Suns draft pick Phoenix was unable to develop.
Golden State now has both of the Suns’ top 10 draft picks in 2016. They have Wiggins, who has been receiving praise already in his short time there.
The Warriors will have ten days to decide if the G League play is more indicative of the player he can become. That would be a high reward. But the risk would be if he resembles more of those times in Phoenix in which his indecision stalled the play.
Of course, it would be unlikely for Golden State to hit on all three of their reclamation projects. But if they can help Wiggins find his potential and/or Bender become an efficient role player and/or Chriss continue down that path, the Warriors will have interesting options beyond the big three next year.
Dragan Bender hasn’t panned out in the NBA yet but at 22-years-old, he may find his fit with the Golden State Warriors.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Golden State Warriors are signing former fourth overall pick Dragan Bender to a 10-day contract on Sunday. Bender, a 7-foot-0 forward who was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2016, has only suited up for seven games this season after being waived by the Milwaukee Bucks on February 10.
Bender has spent most of the 2019-20 season with the NBA G League’s Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G League affiliate. There, the 22-year-old averaged 20.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, 38.4 percent from three (on 5.6 attempts per game) and 79.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Bender is expected to sign the 10-day on Sunday. He was waived in Milwaukee after a roster spot was needed for Marvin Williams. The 7-footer was the No. 4 pick in 2016 NBA Draft. He's still only 22. https://t.co/uWWTFRhhhm
He averages 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game for his career, with shooting percentages of 39.6 percent from the field, 32.3 percent from three and 64.7 percent from the charity stripe.
With his length and shooting touch both inside and outside, Bender will be an intriguing fit with the Warriors’ frontcourt, one that’s already found a couple of players in Eric Paschall and Marquese Chriss who look like they’ll be part of Golden State’s rotation next season. When Kevon Looney returns to full health, these three — plus mainstay Draymond Green — figure to form the main frontcourt rotation.
Bender, if he works out, could be a backup for the recently acquired Andrew Wiggins at small forward or just solid depth.
You can watch some of Bender’s most recent highlights here, and imagine his fit for yourself:
