So How Good Was Nick Young In His Warriors Debut?

The first thing JaVale McGee did when he received his NBA championship ring before the Warriors first game of the 2017/18 season was wave it in the face of friend, former Wizards and now Warriors teammate Nick Young. Young, who half-jokingly said he was "the best shooter on the team" during the Warriors' media day, responded by coming off the bench and having a near perfect shooting performance: team-high 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, 6-of-7 from three, 1-of-1 from the free throw line in 26 minutes.

Five of those game-high six threes by Swaggy P came in the first half and four of those five first half threes came in just nine minutes; The Warriors only got five threes from a bench player once last season. Five threes also tied Ricky Pierce (1994) and Captain Stephen Jackson (2007) for most threes in a Warriors debut.

The Warriors PR tweeted his five threes tied a Warriors record for most threes made in a season opener since 1983/84; I looked up the game and the Warriors had 0 threes against the Sonics that night and I'm pretty sure no player on the Warriors made five threes in a game that season, considering Purvis Short was their leading three maker with 0.3 a game on 30% shooting. The Warriors PR team also tweeted his six threes were the most in a Warriors debut and in any season opener. That is correct.

As for the other Warriors, Klay Thompson started off on fire and finished with four threes on seven attempts. Steph Curry missed six of his nine attempts and Durant missed three of his five. Draymond Green was the only other Warrior to make a three (1-of-2) in the 121-122 loss to the Rockets.

In case you were wondering how Young did in his previous team debuts.

  • WAS (2007) 3 points, 1-2 fg, 1-1 3pt
  • LAC (2011) 16 points, 6-9 fg, 0-0 3pt
  • PHI (2012) 9 points, 3-9 fg, 1-3 3pt
  • LAL (2013) 13 points, 3-10 fg, 1-4 3pt