In 2013, after tearing his ACL two games into the regular season, Brandon Rush was traded from the Golden State Warriors to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade that brought Andre Iguodala to the Dubs. Now, it appears Rush will be re-joining the Warriors to back up Iggy off the bench.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Brandon Rush has agreed to return to Golden State on a two-year, $2.5 million deal. The second year of the contract will have a player option. According to ESPN, Rush worked out for a few teams in Las Vegas Tuesday, and he must have impressed his former team for them to take a chance on him.
Last season, Rush spent a good portion of the season recovering from that ACL tear and by the time he returned to action, the Jazz decided he didn’t have a part to play in the team’s rotation. Rush averaged 2.1 points per game last season in Utah.
Rush now supplants Iguodala as team curmudgeon
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) July 16, 2014
But before the ACL injury temporarily derailed his career, Brandon Rush was a deadly three-point specialist who had a bright future in Golden State. In his first season with the Dubs after being traded from the Indiana Pacers, Rush averaged 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 45 percent from three-point range.
Rush will provide the Dubs with perimeter defense and shooting off the bench, two areas Golden State could use some help in. Rush has averaged 8.3 points per game in his six years in the NBA and is a career 41 percent shooter from downtown.
The question now becomes whether or not the acquisition of Rush has any effect on ongoing trade talks between Golden State and the Minnesota Timberwolves regarding Kevin Love. The Warriors have not backed down in their stance that Klay Thompson is off limits, even after the acquisition of Shaun Livingston made him a little more expendable. However, Livingston is simply a ball handler and lengthy defender, not a three-point shooter.
Livingston and Rush backing up Steph/Klay is 100000x upgrade over last season
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) July 16, 2014
Adding Rush to the roster, if he can stay healthy, could make Thompson a little more expendable. Livingston would join Stephen Curry in the backcourt and Rush could provide some of that dangerous three-point shooting off the bench. It’s highly unlikely the Wolves would be interested in acquiring Rush in a Kevin Love trade given his recent injury history, and there’s always the possibility this acquisition will have no bearing on the Dubs’ reluctance to part with Thompson.