2. Justin Holiday
Justin Holiday remains, surprisingly, a free agent this offseason, but there’s some doubt he’s carved out a great career after his lone year — a championship-winning one — with the Warriors in 2014-15.
Holiday averaged 4.3 points in 11.1 minutes for Golden State that season, but he became a 25- to 30-minute-per-game player for various teams in the years that followed. His three-point and defensive skills made him a valuable asset, shooting 36.5 percent from beyond the arc on 4.4 attempts per game throughout his career.
Golden State’s success proves that they haven’t really missed Holiday in any significant way, but the 35-year-old has nonetheless gone on to have a long career in a way that some wouldn’t have thought possible after his lone season with the franchise.
3. Kelly Oubre Jr.
Klay Thompson’s second devastating leg injury forced the Warriors to search for a replacement ahead of the 2020-21 season, with management ultimately trading for Kelly Oubre Jr., costing Joe Lacob and management tens of millions of dollars in luxury tax.
While Oubre had his moments, including a career-best 40-point game against the Dallas Mavericks, the trade didn’t exactly pay off for Golden State. The former lottery pick put up numbers but wasn’t very efficient, and his play contradicted much of Golden State’s style of play under Steve Kerr.
Nothing proves this better than Oubre’s stats that season. The Warriors had a net rating of -5.3 when he was out and +6.8 in the minutes he was out, with the team never regaining its best form until a hand injury forced Oubre out for the final 10 games of the season.
The following season, he was named Sixth Man of the Year with the Charlotte Hornets and averaged a career-best 20.4 points per game. But after two seasons with a dismal team where his numbers were inflated, Oubre had to rehabilitate his value, which he did after signing a minimum contract with the Philadelphia 76ers last season.
His numbers with Philly were somewhat similar to his year with Golden State, but there’s no doubt he had a much bigger impact, including in the playoffs, where Oubre averaged 37.3 minutes and shot 39.1 percent from three-point range in a first-round loss to the New York Knicks.
