Warriors Sign Brandon Williams to $2.6M Deal After Career Year in Dallas
Williams averaged a career-high 13.0 PPG on 66 games last season and torched Golden State for 22.5 a night. Now he's on their bench.
Bench scorer with upside if Warriors guards miss time — not a Day 1 add.
- One-year, $2.6M deal in unrestricted free agency
- Career-high 13.0 PPG, 3.9 APG in 66 games (2025-26)
- Averaged 22.5 PPG vs Warriors in two games last season
- Shot just 23.2% from three last season, 28.0% career
- GSW ranked 26th in paint points (45/game) last season
Golden State finally made an outside move, and it's a shrewd one. Point guard Brandon Williams agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Warriors on Tuesday, adding cheap backcourt depth after the best season of his career. The 26-year-old averaged a career-high 13.0 points and matched his career-best 3.9 assists across 66 games for Dallas last season, starting 15 of them.
The Warriors know exactly what they're buying, because Williams did most of his damage against them. In two meetings with Golden State last year he poured in 22.5 points per game — his highest average against any multi-game opponent — while shooting a scorching 72.7% from the field (16-of-22). That included a 26-point outing off the bench on Christmas, the third-highest scoring game of his career.
What He Actually Does
Williams is a downhill guard who lives in the paint. He shot 71.3% at the rim and 55.2% on twos last season, using speed and handle to get where he wants. The catch: he's a non-shooter from deep, hitting a lowly 23.2% on threes last year and 28.0% for his career. He won't fix Golden State's spacing, but he can break down a defense and get to the line — he scored 20-plus in eight games last season.
That matters for a Warriors team that ranked 26th in the league in paint points (45 per game) and needs bench scoring badly to open the year. Golden State starts the season without Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, so every bit of microwave offense off the pine counts.
The Fantasy Angle
Here's the crowded part. Williams joins a guard room that already includes Steph Curry, De'Anthony Melton (our #150, 24.1 fantasy pts/game in 2025-26), Brandin Podziemski (our #114, 27.8 fantasy pts/game in 2025-26) and two-way guard LJ Cryer. That's a lot of ball-handlers fighting for the same minutes, and Williams didn't sign for a starting role. Even Podziemski, the best-ranked of the bunch, sits outside the top 100.
Leave Williams on waivers for now in standard leagues. He's a real player with scoring pop, but the depth chart and his non-existent three-point stroke cap his standalone value. Keep him on your watch list in deep formats — if Butler's absence stretches or injuries hit the Warriors' backcourt again, Williams is exactly the kind of cheap acquisition who could carve out 20-plus minutes and matter overnight.
