NEW YORK — The Warriors converted Pat Spencer’s two-way contract into a standard deal, making him the 14th player on their roster and ensuring he’s playoff-eligible.
Spencer was running out of NBA games on his two-way clock and has impressed the organization to the point where he earned a standard contract. Spencer, 28, has appeared in 28 games as a steady backcourt presence.
“It’s another step in the right direction,” Spencer he told this news organization at his visitor’s locker in Madison Square Garden. “Opportunity like I said to be part of a playoff roster hopefully here and have an impact.”
To fill Spencer’s two-way slot, the Warriors signed Braxton Key. Key, 28, played college ball at Virginia and has had stops with the Nuggets, 76ers and Pistons. The 6-foot-8 forward is regarded as a stout defender and most recently played for the Clippers’ G League affiliate.
Spencer spent the first four years of his college career playing lacrosse at Loyola University Maryland, where he amassed the most career assists in NCAA history. He led the nation in points as a senior, winning the Tewaaraton Award — the Heisman Trophy of lacrosse — before transferring to Northwestern for a season of basketball.
His dream was always on the court, but he felt obligated to his lacrosse teammates and the Loyola program to stick with it as long as he did.
After his graduate season at Northwestern, Spencer went undrafted and played overseas in Germany briefly. He latched on with the Wizards’ G League affiliate before signing an Exhibit-10 contract with the Warriors in 2022.
“Pat’s just a great teammate, great worker, hell of an athlete obviously, with the lacrosse background,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “Fearless. Every time I throw him into a game, I feel good about it. So I’m a big fan, and he’s really added to kind of our fiber, just every day the work he puts in, the energy on the bench. He’s a really good guy to have on the squad.”
Spencer will be on the squad for the rest of the year, unburdened by the artificial limits of a two-way structure. He had been thinking about the possibility for some time before Tuesday, hoping it would come to fruition.
“Very aware,” Spencer said when asked how much he’d thought about a standard deal recently. “I’d be naive to not get after it on the back end and try to figure out how to be a part of a playoff roster. Cool day, but it’s Draymond’s birthday, so first and foremost hope we get a win for him. He’s getting old.”