How many times have you seen Stephen Curry delegate the ball-handling duties to a teammate? This year, the Golden State Warriors found the guard, but keeping him is seemingly another challenge. It’s not easy for Steve Kerr, who needs to be proactive, or it may lead to the loss of potent two-way guard Pat Spencer.

Before the Timberwolves game, Kerr was asked about Spencer’s future. “I would love to. It’s really a Mike question, but he and I have talked about this.” The head coach said that the GM, Mike Dunleavy Jr., will make the decision. He offered a sneak peek of what those conversations were about.

“You know, there’s a reason we gave him a couple games off last week. We wanted to make sure we were doing everything necessary to keep him ready for games like tonight. But yeah, it would be ideal if we could get him on the roster, but we don’t know how that’s going to work out.”

With Stephen Curry (knee) and Draymond Green (back) out for Monday night at Minnesota due to injuries, Pat Spencer got his fourth start of the season. The problem here is that it was his 46th active game for the Warriors. Now, he will be eligible to play in 4 more games on his two-way deal for the rest of the season. This poses a dilemma for the Warriors, who already have all 15 roster spots occupied.

Coincidentally, Steve Kerr and the front office have only 4 games left before the trade deadline, when they could open up a roster spot. Spencer, who is making $636,435 this year on a two-way deal, was thrust into action due to injuries this year.

Thankfully for Golden State, the guard has taken full advantage of his opportunity, helping his team stay afloat while Stephen Curry was injured.

In his first career start against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 6, Spencer scored a career-high 19 points on 58.3% shooting from the field while going 3-4 from downtown, helping the Warriors earn a 99-94 win.

He scored in double figures again in his next start against the Chicago Bulls, another win for the Warriors. Even Steve Kerr appreciated the impact of the 29-year-old guard.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s a pick-and-roll threat. He just takes care of the ball. He just gets us into really good offensive rhythm and sky shots and just creates really good possessions. Even when we don’t score, the possessions feel good when he’s out there,” said Kerr back in December.

Because of his ball-handling skills, even Stephen Curry noted that Spencer allows him to play off the ball as the guard takes on more playmaking and initiating duties.

Options for Steve Kerr to deal with Pat Spencer’s situation

Spencer took an unusual path to the NBA, focusing on basketball full-time only in 2019. But now, if the Warriors sign the former lacrosse standout to a standard contract, they will be paying him the prorated minimum. But the Warriors are currently 264,000 under the second apron, which they can’t cross.

So they’d have to clear about $700,000 to immediately convert Spencer’s contract.

Clearing that much space shouldn’t be too difficult to do in a trade. The bigger issue is finding a trade partner that is willing to take back one more player than it sends out.

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Before Jimmy Butler’s season-ending injury, one could make the argument that Spencer wasn’t needed. Now, it’s an obvious need for Steve Kerr’s rotation.

No other current player fits this profile exactly—former two-way players like Quinten Post and Lester Quinones were converted to standard contracts earlier, while Jackson Rowe and Alex Toohey, their other two-way players, haven’t earned comparable playing time or conversion.

Several two-way players are now excelling and facing potential conversion discussions due to strong performances, mirroring Spencer’s situation: Ryan Nembhard with the Mavericks is a standout two-way rookie point guard, dominating and having the best stretch ever for an undrafted two-way player, making conversion highly likely.

Others, like Austin Reaves, began on two-way deals and eventually broke out, though that’s now part of history.

The 29-year-old guard showed he could help when he had a five-game stretch in early December with averages of 15.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 4.2 rebounds. In those 5 games, he scored more than 10 points and averaged more than 5 assists in 3 of them.

Now, Curry and Kerr have already stated the importance of Spencer for the team. But the decision to provide the solution lies with Mike Dunleavy Jr.