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Is Sean Kilpatrick's Contract With Warriors Sending Him to the NBA D-League?

UDFA guard Sean Kilpatrick signed a deal with the Golden State Warriors on Monday, but a deal so late means that the high-scoring guard is likely headed to Santa Cruz.

By Drew Corrigan
Joe Murphy

High scoring guard out of Cincinnati Sean Kilpatrick, was signed by the Golden State Warriors on Monday. Kilpatrick had been an intriguing name to many after going undrafted, however, it appears he's found his home. Being signed this late into camp, with only a few days left, means that Sean Kilpatrick is likely headed to the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA D-League for the season.

While he averaged 20.6 points per game during his senior year (leading the American Athletic Conference in scoring) at Cincinnati, Kilpatrick's birth certificate already has him at the age of 24, which could explain why many teams passed on him during the NBA Draft. Talent is valuable in this league, but teams would rather take a chance on a young player -- at the age of 19 or 20 -- than a scoring guard that's already 24 like Kilpatrick. It's understandable, but still an unfortunate situation for the 6'4" guard.

Even though his name wasn't called on draft night, Kilpatrick signed on to play with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Summer League. In five games with the 76ers, Kilpatrick averaged 10 points on 43 percent shooting from the field. Many expected him to sign with Philly after Summer League, but a deal never came to fruition.

He isn't going to give a team much besides scoring, leading some to potentially regard as one-dimensional, but it's still the most important part of the game. To be fair, the guard did average 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in his senior season at Cincinnati.

He's a high volume, high usage type of player. The No. 2 All-Time scoring leader in Bearcats history (behind a guy named Oscar Robertson,) logged a usage percentage of 30.5 percent in his senior year, a number that went up with every season. He wound up with a PER of 24.7, while registering a career-high in true shooting percentage at 58%.

He'll be sitting on the bench like he was last night for the Warriors end run to the preseason. That'll be good to have him around legitimate NBA talent that the Warriors have to give him a small taste of what he can reach if he proves himself in Santa Cruz. The backcourt of Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Holiday is already exciting enough. Those are two tall guards who are adept at scoring the ball -- it'll be interesting to see how the tandem works out. However, one thing is certain: You might want to check out some Santa Cruz Warriors basketball this season to catch a glimpse of Sean Kilpatrick.