Report: Warriors to waive veteran guard Shaun Livingston
If you needed another indication that an era is ending for the Golden State Warriors, one of the team’s most important bench players over the last half-decade is reportedly on the way out.
The Warriors will waive guard Shaun Livingston as the team continues to deal with a salary cap crunch, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Sources: Warriors are waiving guard Shaun Livingston, who is guaranteed $2M of his $7.7M salary for season. Livingston, 33, is determined to continue playing and becomes one more valuable free agent candidate for contenders. He’s won three NBA titles and reached five Finals.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2019
A veteran of nine different NBA teams, the 33-year-old Livingston had spent the last five years coming off the Warriors’ bench. While he has never been a stat sheet stuffer, partially due to a horrific knee injury he suffered early in his career, Livingston’s length, versatility and leadership made him an asset for the Warriors.
The Warriors made the NBA Finals all five years Livingston spent in the Bay Area, winning three titles.
Wojnarowski reports that Livingston is “determined to continue playing,” but the guard has previously pondered retirement due to recurring knee issues:
“It’s just all the signs on the wall,” Livingston told The Athletic. “And just more so from a physical standpoint. If I’m healthy and having fun, then I want to play. But physically, if I’m not … Like, I put so much work in my body just to get back to playing basketball, let alone get to this point where I’m at.
“So now that it’s getting harder. Like this year, I’ve struggled with injuries more than any other year I’ve been on the Warriors.”
Livingston will now hit the free agent market, where he could be a solid pick-up for contenders looking for a locker room boost.
It has been an eventful offseason for the Warriors, who have already said goodbye to departing free agent Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala, who the team traded after acquiring All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell on a four-year, $117 million sign-and-trade.
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Warriors will save more than $1 million in cap space by waiving Livingston. The guard was guaranteed $2 million next season, which will be evenly spread over the next three seasons through the stretch provision and allow the team to remain below the $138.9 million tax apron.
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