SAN FRANCISCO – Lester Quiñones Jr. spent last basketball season with the University of Memphis Tigers, where he played well enough to be noticed by a gaggle of NBA teams.
Shooters have a way of attracting the eyeballs of scouts, and Quiñones was a marksman, making 39.0 percent of his triples last season after hitting 40.0 percent in 2020-21.
The 6-foot-5 guard, a four-star recruit from suburban New York City, was so proficient at hurting opponents with deep shooting that he added the insult of a signature celebration -- playing air guitar, à la NBA vagabond Lance Stephenson.
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Though considered an unremarkable athlete, Quiñones was a solid defender who averaged 10.0 points per game for the Tigers. That was enough to convince him to declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.
It was not good enough, however, to convince any franchise -- though he worked out for at least seven teams, including the Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers -- to select him in the June 24 draft.
The Warriors, aware that Quiñones had been a roommate of James Wiseman at Memphis, placed him on their summer league roster, where he showed enough to earn one of the team’s two-way contracts.
2022-23 Expectations
Golden State Warriors
Barring injuries that thin the Golden State backcourt, don’t expect to see much of Quiñones in the NBA this season -- even if he dazzles in training camp.
With Quinndary Weatherspoon continuing to impress the Warriors and earning the other two-way contract, Quiñones enters camp ranking no higher than 17th among 20 names on the roster scheduled to make the trip to Japan to open preseason play.
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Though two-way players are allowed to appear in up to 50 games, the best that Quiñones can expect is to play well enough to maintain his two-way deal and then spend most of the season with the G-League Santa Cruz Warriors.