The Dominican debuted with the Golden State Warriors in the last preseason game and was not among those affected by the most recent cut of players on the team.
Friday night belonged to Stephen Curry, which with only 30 minutes of action led the Golden state warriors with a magnificent performance of 41 points and 9 rebounds.
The 119-97 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers, who did not have Damian Lillard at the break, had a special moment for the Dominicans with the preseason debut of LJ Figueroa.
Lionel Jr. only saw action late in the game with three minutes to go with a turnover and steal, and missing the only shot (which was from long range) he tried.
In a very small sample, a player’s performance and potential cannot be fully evaluated, but everything indicates that the Warriors want to see more of the Dominican.
The Warriors have signed free agent guard / forward LJ Figueroa.
LJ, 23, appeared in 26 games (21 starts) during his senior season at the University of Oregon in 2020-21, averaging 12.3 points, a team-high 6.1 rebounds and 1.58 steals. pic.twitter.com/Dznsp0b1EX
– Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 13, 2021
After the game, the Golden State team released Jordan Bell, Avery Bradley, Mychal Mulder and Gary Payton II, and they also made the services of the 6-foot-7-inch player, Axel Toupane, who participated in the team’s training sessions in 2020 and also played in the G-League at the Warriors branch.
With these movements the roster is left with 17 players, two more than the maximum of 15 allowed for the start of the regular season.
It is difficult to predict what will happen with Figueroa and the Warriors, but his immediate future must be defined immediately after this Saturday he was put on waivers by the team and everything would indicate that he would stay with the franchise, but in other instances.
The Warriors used 14 players on Friday night, being a team that in recent seasons has been characterized, in the figure of Steve Kerr, to use little rotations of players coming from the bench, remembering that Klay Thompson would be preparing to his much anticipated return to the courts.
Despite the fact that LJ participated in the meeting and was not among the first group of players cut from the roster, they indicate that he could obtain the possibility of remaining in the franchise, all pointing to his final destination being the G-League.
It cannot be ruled out in addition to the option of a two-way contract with the organization that allows him to see action at some point during the regular season, which could give the opportunity to see two Dominicans debuting in the best basketball in the world, both graduates of the same university (Oregon), in the same season for the first time in history, since his former partner Chris Duarte he’s aiming for a guaranteed spot in the Pacers’ quintet at the start of the regular season.
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