The 2019 NBA Finals will feature a chapter of one of the more curious storylines of this season, as the Golden State Warriors face off against a member of their last two title teams who now plays for the Toronto Raptors, Patrick McCaw.
After playing a meaningful bench role on the 2016-17 Warriors, McCaw saw his role diminish last season, and then he suffered a traumatic back injury that ruled him out for the rest of the year and most of the postseason. During the offseason, McCaw decided it was time to move on from Golden State, though as a restricted free agent, he didn’t have the ability to make that happen organically.
As a result, McCaw stayed away from the Warriors while trying to secure a new contract, even missing the team’s ring ceremony. He continued his holdout until December, when he signed an offer sheet with Cleveland that was too onerous for Golden State to match due to the luxury tax. The Cavaliers waived him shortly afterwards, freeing McCaw to sign with the Raptors.
The entire affair skirted the line of violating NBA rules and hasn’t even resulted in an improved role for the third-year guard. McCaw averaged 3.3 minutes per game in 26 appearances for Toronto during the regular season. During the playoffs, he has played 36 minutes over seven games, and only 7 minutes occurred outside of garbage time, via Cleaning the Glass.
Even though McCaw is still on the periphery of the Finals for the third straight year, he has no regrets about the manner in which he ended up in Toronto. He believes that leaving the Warriors was the ‘right’ challenge for him to take on, and he is in a great position where the Raptors have ’embraced’ him.
Patrick McCaw on why he doesn’t have regrets with how he handled this past year pic.twitter.com/vZgAa8Ikzd
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 29, 2019
McCaw will once again be a free agent this offseason, and it remains to be seen if he will draw any more interest than he did last year. Although he will no longer be restricted, the 2019 free-agent class is loaded.
There was a theory that McCaw could grow his game with the Raptors, who have a strong developmental program with their G-League team, as evidenced by Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, among others. However, even if that happened, McCaw hasn’t been able to show off those gains in limited playing time. It would undoubtedly be satisfying for McCaw to make an impact in this series against the team he fought so hard to leave, but more than likely, he’ll remain saddled to the bench on the NBA’s biggest stage yet again.
