The Golden State Warriors rely more on Pat Spencer than they expected in the playoffs and were not even sure they would play basketball.
The Golden State Warriors needed seven games, but managed to beat the second seeded Houston Rocket in the first round. In the first match of the Western Conference semi-finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Stephen Curry was ruled out in at least three games as he suffered from hamstring tension and did not return.
In both the first and second rounds, the Warriors called on Reserve Put Spencer to play a major role. Spencer spent most of his seasons on two-way contracts before being promoted to standard contracts after the trade deadline.
During the regular season, Spencer averaged 2.5 points in six minutes of play. In the postseason, he scored 6.4 points, and was the main source of energy against the rockets.
A standout Maryland high school athlete, Spencer has promised to play lacrosse in Loyola, Maryland. He was then first drafted overall by Archers Lacrosse Club in the 2019 PLL Draft, but earned a professional career in the season of college basketball at Northwestern University.
Spencer revealed that he didn’t expect him to play basketball at a high level, along with his brother playing for the Memphis Grizzlies.
“I felt like I had a better chance. Lacrosse is probably a more viable option to play in college at that height at a higher level,” he revealed Thursday. “
So our old man grew up quite slow. So, we later encouraged growth, but we just wanted to give ourselves the opportunity to compete at a very high level at the university level. And I had to take the lacrosse route on top of the hoop. And then clearly we put the basketball on the back burner and reached where we are today. ”
Spencer averaged 10.4 points in his only college basketball season for the Wildcats team, finishing with an 8-23 record. He then spent a season with the Hambruck Tower in the German league and came to the G League before eventually entering the NBA.
In 2020, Spencer claims the team had contacted him and brought him in so he could play for their G-League team, but the community shutdown ended it.
“I agreed with the team for six months right after college. They said, ‘We want you to be part of our G-League team.’ I didn’t get anything written and I continued to communicate with them,” he continued.
“And about two or three weeks before the G-League went to the bubble, they called and said, “Hey, our hands are tied up. The NBA is forcing us to take two-way guys from other teams.” So I felt I couldn’t have a blank year on my resume, so I had to re-rout my journey to Europe.
“I had a ton of working with a year of college hoops, and I just didn’t think it was the right thing to do with a blank year on my resume.”
In Germany, like in college, Spencer didn’t burn the world accurately. In five games, he averaged 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, eventually signing the Capital Go-Go and began his NBA career.
