Former Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao has reportedly "reached an agreement" to join the Golden State Warriors this season after he was recently traded to then waived by the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 33-year-old Brazilian national basketball team member was moved to Portland from Cleveland during last week's trade deadline along with a future draft pick in a three-team deal that also involved the Orlando Magic. Upon being acquired by the Blazers, Varejao was immediately released and so the Warriors took advantage of the opportunity to sign him.
Yahoo Sports indicated that the Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil native "had been deciding between offers from the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs", two of the best teams in the league right now, and had chosen the defending champions over the 2014-2015 titlists as his destination.
Varejao is an 11-year veteran and was picked 30th overall during the 2004 NBA Draft by Orlando. He, along with Drew Gooden and Steve Hunter, was traded by the Magic to the Cavs before his rookie season began in exchange for Tony Battie and two future second-round selections.
He spent the last 11 and a half seasons with only one team, the Cavs, and has been a fan-favorite in the city throughout all these years.
"Although it was hard to be traded I have no hard feelings," Varejao told Cleveland.com's Chris Haynes, as posted by Bleacher Report. "I'm grateful to Dan Gilbert and the Cavs organization for 12 amazing years. I know I'm very fortunate. I'm leaving one great team and joining another. I can't wait to put on my new Warrior jersey!"
The Warriors need to waive one player in order to accommodate the Brazilian, and they did so by waiving forward Jason Thompson, who had been collecting a lot of DNP-CD's in recent games.
Golden State is urgently in need of depth at their front court after the recent surgery of center Festus Ezeli to repair a knee injury. The team's starting center, Andrew Bogut, is also currently nursing an Achilles tendon injury.
Varejao had been struggling to find his minutes this season being at the bottom of a loaded Cavaliers front court that also included Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Timofey Mozgov.
He averaged 2.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.2 blocks per game in only 10.0 minutes a night in 31 games for Cleveland before he was traded.