Golden State Warriors: 10 greatest free agent signings ever

#5. David Lee

Though he’s been subject to slander for the majority of his career, David Lee is one of the more underrated forwards ever.

Drafted 30th overall by the New York Knicks in 2005, David Lee had a rough rookie year but gradually started to pick up his game after that.

By his fifth and final season in New York, David Lee was an All-Star averaging 20.2 points and 11.7 rebounds per game.

After that season, in 2010, Lee became an unrestricted free agent and on July 9, he was signed and traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal worth $79.54 million over six years.

Though the Warriors struggled in his first few years, Lee put up solid numbers nonetheless.

But by 2012-13, the Warriors were competitive, and David Lee was an All-Star again. Averaging 18.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game in that season, Lee was named a reserve representing the Western Conference and was the first Warriors All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997. Lee was an All-NBA Third Team Selection in 2012-13 as well.

Unfortunately for Lee, his downfall began just when the Warriors started to become dominant.

Before the 2014-15 season even started, David Lee strained his left hamstring and was forced to miss the first 24 of 25 regular season games.

Even when Lee returned healthy, his spot in the starting lineup was taken by third-year player Draymond Green. Lee was now a reserve for the first time since early in his career.

Going into the 2015 playoffs, Lee had appeared in only 49 regular season games and started just four of them. He did not play at all in the first playoff series versus the New Orleans Pelicans, and in the second series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Lee averaged just 2.8 points in 11.0 minutes a game.

The Warriors won their first title that year, and David Lee was indeed an NBA Champion; but falling out of his prime, now replaced by a younger and better forward in Draymond Green, Lee’s time in Golden State was over.

He was traded to the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2016, for the Warriors wanted to offload his salary given the very limited role he had on the team.

With the exception of his limited, disappointing, injury-riddled final season in the blue and gold, David Lee had a fantastic tenure with Golden State. Averaging 16.7 points and 9.3 rebounds, Lee was an All-Star caliber player and even an All-NBA selection.

Though he failed to contribute to their first of three titles, Lee was still one of the better players in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons in which they won 98 games in two years and won a playoff series in each.

We remember his disappointing final year and his downfall, but we must not forget the impact he had before that.