The Golden State Warriors came out of the NBA Draft without adding a center, and that leaves Quinten Post with a clearer route to stay in their plans. With the second round now over, the team’s frontcourt picture looks less crowded than it might have, and Post’s path to a new deal has opened a little wider.
That matters because Post is entering restricted free agency after a disappointing second season, and the Warriors had gone into the offseason without a center locked onto the roster for next season. In that setting, every draft pick carried extra weight, especially for a team trying to answer a simple question: who handles the middle if the roster changes around him?
Golden State did not answer that question by taking a center in the second round. Felix Okpara came off the board early, Henri Veesaar went to the Atlanta Hawks after they jumped the Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Houston Rockets selected Ugonna Onyensu one pick before Golden State was set to choose. Aday Mara had been mentioned as a possibility at 11th overall, but that door was closed long before the Warriors reached their later picks.
The result is that Post’s outlook improved even as his own season was described as disappointing. That is the friction in his position: he is not being handed security because of a breakout year, but because Golden State did not use the draft to bring in another center who could press for his minutes or his role. In a roster spot that was already unsettled, absence can count almost as much as a signing.
The next step is straightforward, even if the terms are not. Post remains in restricted free agency, and the Warriors now have a cleaner lane to keep him around for 2026-27 if they decide he is part of the center rotation they want to build. Al Horford already returned one day after the Draft on a two-year, $14 million deal, but the draft itself left Post with less immediate competition and a better chance to turn that opening into a new contract.
