Willie Cauley-Stein excited for Sacramento homecoming with Warriors

After spending the first four years of his NBA career with the Kings, Willie Cauley-Stein is making his return to Sacramento for the first time with Golden State Warriors.

Injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, plus the departure of Kevin Durant, have forced the Golden State Warriors into a transition season. Along the way, the former championship team has added a bevy of new faces to reset their roster.

One of the new arrivals to Golden State is fifth-year center, Willie Cauley-Stein. Prior to joining the Warriors, the former Kentucky Wildcat spent his first four seasons up California’s highway I-80 from San Francisco, in Sacramento.

Cauley-Stein scored tallied 14 points, six steals, five rebounds and two assists in Golden State’s first 2019-20 matchup with Sacramento, but that was at Chase Center in San Francisco. Now, the for Kings center will make his return back to Sacramento as a visitor for the first time in his career.

At the Warriors’ pregame shootaround, Cauley-Stein told reporters he’s excited to be back in the state capital. Still, it’s definitely weird being on the other sideline in the place where his career started, he says.

It’s going to be cool coming back — playing in the spot that I grew up in pretty much — it’s weird being on this side of it though, I’ll be honest — I’m excited, it’s going to be fun.

The Kansas native said it could be a mixed reaction when he’s introduced in Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center, but overall he’s expecting much love from the city that supported him throughout his career.

Probably both, probably be love and hate, that’s how it goes when you leave an organization, but shoot — a lot of love, man. I feel like either way it’s a lot of love; I had a lot of support out here, a lot of people that believed in me off the court — it’s going to be cool.

Cauley-Stein said he still follows the Kings when he’s not playing and is happy to see them do well, just as long as it’s not against his new team, the Golden State Warriors.

Golden State’s 26-year-old center has missed the last two games with an illness but is feeling better just in time to return to the city that drafted him sixth overall in 2015.