Pretty much every former NBA player who’s attempting a comeback this season is looking at the Warriors as a top priority for the team they wish to join.
Can anybody blame them? This team won 73 games last season and has now added quite possibly the most dynamic scorer of the past decade to that roster.
With a core of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, this Warriors team looks unbelievable.
Go down the depth chart and names like Andre Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia, Shaun Livingston, and David West begin appearing. The staggering amount of talent is seemingly unprecedented.
Players without a team are jumping at any opportunity to join this squad, and one of the names emerging is Emeka Okafor.
He last played in the NBA in 2012-2013, and sat out the next season with a herniated disk in his neck. No team signed him after his contract expired.
According to Jackie MacMullen of ESPN, Okafor wishes to join a contending team next season in either December or January. Presumably he’d be fully healthy by then, as he’s currently rehabbing.
Interestingly enough, Okafor is one of numerous former University of Connecticut Huskies attempting to make an NBA comeback. Fellow alumni Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton are also trying to return to the league after lengthy absences.
Last season, he was in discussions with the Warriors, Cavaliers, and Heat about a return, by decided to delay it.
Bob Myers said that he’s monitoring Okafor’s situation, and that he spoke with him a couple months ago.
“We have 14 players right now, but you learn every year that someone you didn’t expect to be available becomes an option,” Myers said. “Ideally, you try to have the flexibility to keep a spot open in case that happens.”
Okafor joining the Warriors appears unlikely. Had they more confidence in his ability to regain the health necessary to play a grueling NBA season, they wouldn’t have invited the much more youthful JaVale McGee to training camp to compete for that last roster spot.
It also works against Okafor that he won’t be attending any training camps. The team that takes a chance on Okafor will have to have faith that he’ll be able to quickly adjust to the game speed of NBA basketball after such a long time away from the action once he theoretically returns mid-season.
Okafor will turn 34 years old in September. He was known as a solid inside scorer, rebounder, and rim protector during his career.
He never averaged more than the 15.1 points per game that he totaled in his rookie season, but averaged a double-double for 5 straight seasons from 2004-2005 to 2008-2009.
For his career, he has impressive averages of 12.3 points per game, 9.9 rebounds per game, and 1.7 blocks per game.
Okafor would provide a proven shot blocking presence that is not on the Warriors’ roster as of now. If McGee makes the team, that’s the niche that he would likely fill.
Leading up to the 2004 NBA draft, there was some light buzz that he deserved to be picked higher than Dwight Howard, but he ended up going 2nd overall while Howard went 1st.
While Okafor never became a star, he was always a formidable presence inside who could contribute on both offense and defense.
Although it seems like only an outside possibility of Okafor joining the Warriors, the front office will monitor his progress, and perhaps Okafor could be plugged in if any frontcourt injuries were to affect the Warriors next season.