Warriors draft picks Alex Toohey and Will Richard unsurprisingly garnered the most attention from the team’s NBA summer league roster. There was intrigue in the development of Taran Armstrong, too. People wanted to see what kind of player Jackson Rowe could be the for the Warriors this season, and there were some other names to take notice of.
The name that should have been known is Chris Mañon.
Undrafted out of Vanderbilt, Mañon appeared to be just another name on a 19-man summer league roster. He just might have been the Warriors’ best player this summer. The problem for them is, Mañon, a 6-foot-5 guard/wing, plans to sign a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday, citing sources.
Mañon in the Warriors’ first game of the California Classic showed the kind of two-way impact that shined throughout the summer. His plus/minus of plus-12 in the Warriors’ five-point win against the Lakers was a team high, tied with Armstrong and Rowe, both of whom finished last season on two-way contracts. He scored eight points, had three rebounds and also added three steals and two blocked shots.
Those five stocks (steals plus blocks) were the story of his successful summer. Both of Mañon’s two blocked shots were in the fourth quarter of a comeback win, as well as his third and final steal. From the 9:14 mark of the fourth quarter to the 7:43 mark, Mañon swatted back-to-back shots, and on the fourth possession of the sequence stole the ball and immediately gave it up for an assist to Rowe.
But Mañon struggled his next game as a minus-21 in 10 minutes off the bench, and didn’t play the last game of the California Classic. He had another rough game to start off the Warriors’ schedule in Las Vegas, and then found his footing again in an impressive win against a talented Utah Jazz team, scoring 13 points in 17 minutes, with five rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a steal.
That game kickstarted a very strong four-game stretch, ending with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, four steals and two blocked shots as a plus-21 in the Warriors’ finale – an 82-71 win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Mañon was one of four Warriors to play in all five games in Vegas. He scored the most points on the team (55), while averaging the third-most per game (11.0). Mañon also led the Warriors with 5.2 rebounds per game, 26 total, and blocked shots (eight total), and was tied with Toohey in having the second-most steals (seven), trailing to Richard’s nine.
“He plays fearlessly,” one source said to NBC Sports Bay Area.
Warriors summer league coach Lainn Wilson, who will start his first season as G League head coach in Santa Cruz this season, was a strong advocate of getting Mañon on the summer league team and hopefully beyond that. Now, he will have to go against him when the Sea Dubs take on the South Bay Lakers.
A two-way contract from the Warriors was unlikely for Mañon. Rowe already is signed to one, and Armstrong is expected to return on a two-way as well. The final two-way contract most likely will go to one of the Warriors’ draft picks, with the other taking a standard contract on the 15-man roster.
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