Willie Cauley-Stein: Larry the Splash Uncle says get your reps in today: 500 3’s. #RuinTheGame
Willie Cauley-Stein Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 08/18/93
Height: 7-0 / 2.13
Weight:244 lbs. / 110.7 kg.
Salary:
Born: 08/18/93
Height: 7-0 / 2.13
Weight:244 lbs. / 110.7 kg.
Salary:
But don’t tell that to free agent Willie Cauley-Stein. Because when the Golden State Warriors wanted to offer him a contract, he was fishing for … well, he was fishing. “The first day (of free agency), I’m sitting there waiting on the top-tier dudes to go,” Cauley-Stein told NBC Sports Bay Area on Tuesday. “I picked up fishing because I was like, ‘I need to do something with this time.’ Sitting there waiting was just so brutal on my mental (health).”
So Cauley-Stein headed out to a lake “in the boonies,” where he had no cell service, and when his agent finally got in touch with him, he had to high-tail it back to land and drive two miles down a road to talk to the Warriors’ brass. “I’m sitting there on the phone and that’s when it’s like, well it’s a clock,” Cauley-Stein said. “Like, if you don’t take this (deal), it’s probably not going to be there in, like, 20 minutes.”
The dreams played out in Willie Cauley-Stein’s head well before he became disenchanted with the Sacramento Kings. It happened even before the Warriors cemented themselves as a dynasty. Before the Kings selected Cauley-Stein at No. 6 in the 2015 NBA draft, he often wore a Warriors hat and often wondered aloud what it would be like to play with Stephen Curry. Four years later, Cauley-Stein no longer has to day dream. “I’ve been imagining it for a while. It’s crazy it’s actually happening,” Cauley-Stein said on Monday. “Me and my friends talk about it all the time.”
Then, Cauley-Stein wondered how he and Curry would operate in pick-and-rolls. Or how opponents would defend him knowing they cannot leave Curry open. Since agreeing to a veteran’s minimum deal with the Warriors six days ago, Cauley-Stein and his friends have circled back to those conversations. Not only will Cauley-Stein have that luxury with Curry. He might have that with Klay Thompson and D’Angelo Russell, too. “How can guys damn near not guard me now because they have to guard Klay, Steph and D-Lo?” Cauley-Stein said. “How are you going to guard a big? You have to tag. If you don’t tag, then it’s a lob. If you do tag, it’s a 3. So pick your poison.”
Cauley-Stein entered last season saying, “I’m ready to get paid.” Then, the Sacramento Kings refused to give him an extension. The Kings gave Cauley-Stein a $6.26 million qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent. Then, Sacramento rescinded the qualifying offer. Cauley-Stein then settled on a veteran’s minimum deal with the Warriors. “By the end of it, it was no longer about getting paid,” Cauley-Stein said. “It was more how do I stay secure and how do I build off that security. I think the Warriors were probably the best at doing that in the league. It was a real easy decision on me and my team’s part.”
