Lester Quinones Is The NBA’s Best Kept Secret...

On Tuesday night, the Warriors converted two-way player Lester Quinones to a standard NBA contract, meaning he’ll stay with the team for the rest of the season, rather than having to go back down to Santa Cruz. At first glance you may not think this is a big deal, as he’s an undrafted player averaging 5, 2, and 1 in 19 NBA games this season. However, he’s much better than his counting stats may imply. He’s a trigger-happy offensive dynamo, very reminiscent of former Warriors youngster Jordan Poole. I called him the Poole replacement over the summer, and so did some other people on this platform. A lot of this was sparked by his play in the summer league, where he averaged 22 points and 5 assists per game this summer, and shot 59% from three in Sacramento. His play style looked very similar to Poole there. However, to start this season he wasn’t in the rotation. The minutes left behind by Poole had been swallowed up by Chris Paul and Brandon Podzeimski. As of late though, he’s cracking his way into Steve Kerr’s rotation, even closing a couple of games. He has had three double-digit scoring games this month, compared to zero for his career before the month started. However he may not be the next Jordan Poole, but rather Klay Thompson. He’s shot 40.4% from three for his young career, and more specifically is shooting 56% from the corner. The part that’s most similar to Klay though, is that 95% of his made threes this season have been assisted. For his career, 93% of Klay’s threes are assisted and one of the biggest strengths for him in his prime was his ability to score without dribbling, and now Lester Quinones is following in his footsteps. We’ve seen high level scoring in the summer league with flashes of self creation, but now in the league we’re seeing him seamlessly adjust to the role that the current Warriors need him to play. His versatility offensively makes him extremely valuable, especially with his blazing hot shooting. He can be a productive player now, but represents a much higher ceiling for the future, and the warriors clearly see that. Lester Quinones is the NBA’s best kept secret.

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