Warriors trade late second-round pick for Thunder reserve: reports

The Warriors entered Thursday’s Day 2 of the NBA Draft with the 52nd overall pick, but have traded out of the position before the second round started.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Golden State sent the 52nd pick — their only 2024 selection — to Oklahoma City for Lindy Waters III.

Waters, who is about to turn 27, is entering his fourth year in the NBA. A career 37.7% 3-point shooter, the wing saw his role diminish this season as the Thunder roster around him blossomed into a Western Conference contender.

Waters has a club option for $2.2 million this season and becomes an unrestricted free agent in the 2025-26 season. Given the Warriors’ need for immediate improvement, the Warriors are likely to roster him as a depth piece.

Last year, the 6-foot-6 guard averaged 3.6 points in 7.4 minutes per game. His 2021-22 rookie year was his most statistically productive, when he averaged eight points in 18.1 minutes per game, including one start.

Waters projects as a 3-point specialist. Eighty-six percent of his career shot attempts have come from behind the arc.

An enrolled member of the Kiowa tribe, Waters is of Cherokee descent. Born in Colorado, Waters grew up in Oklahoma, first attending Norman North High School before transferring to Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas after getting expelled for an incident in which he posed for a picture holding an Airsoft gun.

Waters returned to Oklahoma for college, spending four years at Oklahoma State. He averaged 9.5 points per game in his college career and shot 39% from deep.

The Warriors’ priority in the draft was to acquire an NBA-ready prospect on a cheap contract. It’s quite possible the front office viewed Waters as more likely to fit that bill than a rookie they could’ve selected with the 52nd pick.