Warriors' Jerome Robinson prime example of third NBA two-way contract

Warriors' Jerome Robinson prime example of third NBA two-way contract originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors never should have received the kind of contributions they did last season from Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome, the two players who held two-way contracts. They exceeded expectations, for better and mostly for worse.

One year later, the Warriors shouldn’t have to be in the same situation. Their roster is more veteran-laden, plus Jonathan Kuminga and Moody Moody are expected to take a seamless third-year leap.

But if the Warriors find themselves in a similar problem as last season, they might have the perfect candidate in 26-year-old Jerome Robinson, who signed a two-way contract in late September, taking advantage of a change the NBA made this offseason.

NBA teams now have three two-way contracts to work with, giving the Warriors an extra roster spot to evaluate unproven talent.

Two-way contracts were new to the CBA in 2017 to help younger players develop between the NBA and a team’s G League affiliate. The Warriors, less than one week before the regular-season opener, have two players signed to two-way contracts who fit the original purpose.

Lester Quinones, 22, has hit every building block a franchise can ask out of an undrafted player. After losing his two-way tag last year before the opener, Quinones shined in Santa Cruz and was named the G League’s Most Improved Player. Quinones signed a 10-day contract with the Warriors on March 2 and was converted to a two-way contract on March 17 for the final 12 games of the regular season and to be with the team on the sidelines for the playoffs. Players on two-way contracts are ineligible to suit up in the playoffs.

Usman Garuba, 21, is a former first-round draft pick who became a roster casualty in the offseason when he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and then waived six weeks later. Garuba played 75 games for the Houston Rockets last season and is a project the Warriors are happy to invest in. He and Quinones both are, but the NBA made a change to two-way contracts this year in the latest CBA.

Robinson could fill that third two-way roster spot, and he has a chance to contribute in several areas, if given the opportunity.

"He's got a lot of experience at his age,” Steve Kerr said of Robinson on Sunday at Golden 1 Center before the Warriors’ preseason overtime win against the Sacramento Kings. “He knows what wins. When I put him out there, he makes winning plays. If he is out there for us this year, he'll help us win some games. He really is a solid pro.

“And he's important too for us because he helps the young guys. He showed great leadership last year in Santa Cruz. So one of the reasons we wanted him on the two-way is to have that ability to impact our younger players with his leadership, but also help the team win if he's out there."

Robinson already has seen every side of the NBA landscape in his young career. The Los Angeles Clippers selected him No. 13 overall in the 2018 draft, but he was traded to the Washington Wizards less than two years later. He last played in the NBA on April 1, 2021, as a member of the Wizards.

This time last year, Robinson was waived by the Warriors in order to make room for Jerome. No former first-round draft pick wants to step foot on a G League court, especially past the first season or two of their professional career, but that’s where Robinson found himself the last two seasons as part of the Warriors organization.

And the worth he proved past the box score in Santa Cruz could have Robinson knocking on the door for an NBA return on the Warriors’ third two-way contract.

"Santa Cruz is great,” Robinson recently said after a Warriors practice. “Obviously as a basketball player in your career you don't want to be in the G League, but it's an opportunity. I think taking advantage of every opportunity you get is the most important thing. Going down there, being a professional, carrying myself the way I want to carry myself and helping everybody out that I can I think is the biggest thing."

That’s what Robinson proved on a daily basis last year playing under Seth Cooper, who now is one of the main faces of the Warriors’ player development program. Between the G League regular season and the showcase circuit, Robinson averaged 14.6 points, 4.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game last season in Santa Cruz while shooting 45.5 percent from the field, 35.3 percent on 3-pointers and 90.9 percent on free throws. Robinson more importantly served as a mentor to his teammates, and Quinones recalls him always handing out tips during games and practices.

Quinones recognizes how Robinson’s experience sticks out. His reads are proactive and he can see things happening on the court that other younger players might not notice. The best piece of advice Robinson has shared with Quinones also highlights his value as a veteran.

"First off, the refs,” Quinones said to NBC Sports Bay Area on Sunday in Sacramento. “He's good with getting fouls, talking with them, being coachable. But mainly the refs. He knows how to talk to them in a certain way, get on their side a little bit. That's something I feel like I can pick up from him. I can't say I've picked it up yet, but that's for sure something he helped me with throughout Santa Cruz that he's helping me with now.

"And just being a leader out there. Running a team, getting people here and getting people there and giving people tips in the right situations. It's just the little things like that that he helps me with."

Coaches haven’t asked Robinson to do anything he hasn’t done in the past. They want him to continue being a leader, continue being a glue guy and have his hustle in the least contribute to both ends of the floor. The main difference in his eyes personally is how he prepared himself in the offseason.

Robinson’s offseason was spent at Proactive Sports Performance in Westlake Village, the same facility he trained at going into the draft and when dealing with an Achilles issue in the past. Robinson believes he didn’t lack in training in previous summers, but at Proactive his curiosities constantly were met and his consistency was at a different level than before.

The biggest change he made? Sleep.

“It was seven days a week for me, between working out, maintenance on my body and sleep,” Robinson said. “I think sleep is so important. Consistently going to bed at midnight or consistently going to bed at 9:30, 10 o'clock, those two hours, two and a half hours over a course of months add a lot to your body.

“I think really finding those details and figuring them out, one, and then two, executing on them, were the biggest things."

Staying stuck in the past is something Robinson refuses to do. Scoring over 20 points per game at Boston College is done. So is the draft, his Clippers tenure and his time on the Wizards. Robinson is ensuring regrets aren’t part of his basketball life, and the extra leash of a third two-way contract comes at the perfect time for him and the Warriors.

“He knows the respect he has in the locker room from all of us for how hard he works and how he approaches things and who he is as a person,” Steph Curry said Tuesday. “There’s opportunity for him, for sure. There’s going to be at some point in the season.

“Just be ready for it and go hoop. That’s how you got here, and that’s what we expect from him.”

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