Golden State Warriors: 10 greatest free agent signings ever
By Drew Taylor
#4. Sarunas Marciulionis
Known as the first-ever Soviet player in the NBA, Sarunas Marciulionis played his best seasons in Golden State.
After attending college and playing little basketball up until then, Marciulionis played in the USSR Premier League for team Statyba beginning in 1981.
After sparking a friendship with the son of the Golden State Warriors coach, Don Nelson, the Warriors drafted Marciulionis in the sixth round of the 1987 Draft. At 23 years of age, however, Marciulionis was one year older than the age draft rules limited for European players.
Stan Kasten, president and general manager of the Atlanta Hawks, also the one who voided the Warriors pick, pursued Marciulionis and eventually persuaded him to sign with Atlanta. Though they agreed on a contract, the Hawks never submitted it to league offices and the Soviets made it clear they wouldn’t let Marciulionis leave.
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Just over a year later, Marciulionis returned to the Warriors and signed a three-year, $3.8 million contract. Like many players on this list, Marciulionis primarily came off the bench and served as the team’s sixth man.
Over the course of his four years in the Bay Area, Marciulionis averaged 14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game.
His best seasons came in 1991-92 and 1992-93 in which he averaged 18.9 points and 17.4 points per game.
Marciulionis was the runner up in the Sixth Man of the Year race in both of those seasons and in 1991-92, Marciulionis was the Warriors third-leading scorer behind Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway en route to a 55-win regular season.
Following those two seasons, however, Marciulionis suffered a series of knee/leg injuries that kept him out for a year and a half, one of which occurred on a normal jog around his neighborhood woods.
He had two more half-decent seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics and Sacramento Kings but never returned to his best level of play.
He retired after just eight years in the league.
Though Sarunas Marciulionis didn’t put up miraculous statistics year after year for the Warriors, his impact on the organization and on the NBA as a whole is astronomical. He led the way to the internationalization of the NBA just by stepping on the court and representing Europe.
And with his miraculous left-handed dribble and shooting stroke as well as his international impact on the league, the Lithuanian Legend was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in February of 2014.
And for these reasons and many more, Marciulionis is one of the Warriors’ best organizational free agent signings ever; for his playmaking impact on the court but also for his international impact off the court.