Golden State Warriors: Breaking down the Alec Burks signing

The Golden State Warriors have signed veteran Alec Burks to a minimum contract to help add some increased wing depth. Here is a breakdown of the signing.

The Golden State Warriors have been scouring the market for every ounce of depth they could get and the signing of former Utah Jazz shooting guard Alec Burks gives them just that.

Burks is a former 12th overall pick who has made a career out of being a plus scorer and three-point shooter. Unfortunately, his most recent years haven’t been so kind to him.

The 27-year-old spent the first seven years of his career with the Jazz before Utah moved him to Cleveland in November of this past season. He would wind up playing in 34 games for the Cavaliers, making 24 starts, before they shipped him back out west to the Sacramento Kings.

Unfortunately, his tenure is Sacramento would be nothing short of a disaster as he never found a way into the team’s rotation. Burks played in just 13 games with the Kings averaging just 1.7 points in 9.8 minutes per game.

However, Burks has proven to be a very capable scorer when healthy in his career. But the health status hasn’t always been a given.

Burks has missed a miraculous 182 games over the past five years due to a variety of injuries related to his shoulder, leg, and ankle. That’s over 44% of possible games that Burks has spent on the shelf.

Still, as a depth signing, this move does make some sense for the Warriors.

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Golden State was in massive need of some increased wing depth and Burks should give them just what they’re looking for. Following the trade of Andre Iguodala and, of course, Klay Thompson‘s torn ACL, the Warriors are looking very thin at the wing.

Burks could give the team a taller shooting guard option who could spell newly-acquired combo-guard D’Angelo Russell with the second unit. Or he could even play some small forward coming off the bench behind Alfonzo McKinnie or whoever the Warriors throw out there on a daily basis.

Expect Burks to compete for playing time with rookie first-round pick Jordan Poole who should fill a similar role. Poole is more of a ball-handler than Burks but still shoots at a similar three-point rate.

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At Michigan, Poole shot 37% from deep while Burks career NBA average is 35.5%. Obviously, the arc is moved up in college but it’s likely that their rates will be pretty similar in the pros.

On top of that, neither offers much as a defender but Burks does have the advantage when it comes to size and length. Still, he will be forced to compete with the younger Poole and Golden State could favor the latter due to his age and recent draft status.

Either way, Burks should give the Warriors some much-needed depth at an area where they were in desperate need of some.

If he could stay healthy, Burks could be a solid scorer coming off the bench. If not, the team ultimately doesn’t lose much making this a low-risk signing that only serves to help fill out the roster.