The Golden State Warriors begin yet another title defense on Tuesday evening, opening the season with a date against the Russell Westbrook-less Oklahoma City Thunder. While that would be noteworthy in its own right, the game is also taking place in Oakland, paving the way for the Warriors to publicly accept their championship rings for their work during the 2017-18 campaign.
However, 22-year-old wing Patrick McCaw will reportedly miss the occasion, as he remains a free agent and is seemingly choosing to forego the ceremony as a result.
Warriors restricted free agent Patrick McCaw will not attend tonight’s season-opener to receive his championship ring, a league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 17, 2018
McCaw elected to decline a qualifying offer from the Warriors earlier in October and, while reports indicate he has a standing offer from the team, the former UNLV standout has been exceptionally quiet in recent days. It is unclear what McCaw and his representation plan to accomplish with the extended hiatus but, even with the caveat that the Warriors could absolutely utilize a player of his skill set, McCaw’s leverage appears to be virtually non-existent at this stage.
Finally, McCaw choosing to miss this kind of team ceremony might be seen in the most positive light and it will be interesting to see what the next step might be. For now, we know that the Warriors will be operating without him on Tuesday evening and, barring a sharp change, it will be a while before McCaw is on an NBA court again.
