Ray Allen’s reps contact Warriors, Cavs about comeback

After pulling off the single biggest move of the free agency period, landing former NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant to team with reigning two-time MVP Stephen Curry and All-Star running buddies Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors turned their attention to filling out their rotation and bench around their All-NBA four-man core and ace sixth man Andre Iguodala (and, lest we forget, 2015 first-round pick Kevon Looney!). They retained versatile backup point guard Shaun Livingston, imported veteran bigs Zaza Pachulia and David West on the cheap … and now, from the sound of it, they might have the opportunity to add another one of the greatest shooters of all time to their squadron of snipers.

 

First, from Basketball Insiders’ Alex Kennedy:

 

	Alex Kennedy @AlexKennedyNBA
The Warriors have pushed for a Ray Allen comeback since 2014. Ray has stayed in shape. His vet minimum would be $1,551,659. GS likely calls. 7:58 AM - 5 Jul 2016

Then, from Chris Broussard of ESPN.com:

Allen’s representatives reached out to the Golden State Warriors recently about the possibility of Allen joining the Western Conference champions.

The Warriors are unsure whether they want to pursue the future Hall of Famer, sources said.

Allen, who will turn 41 on July 20, is also not absolutely sure he wants to return after sitting out the past two seasons. But he is intrigued by the possibility of playing for another championship, and in addition to the Warriors, he would consider joining the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers, sources said.

As Chris Haynes of cleveland.com hears it, Allen’s camp has reached out to both the Warriors and Cavaliers, the last two NBA champions, and “would listen to the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs” if they made overtures. While Broussard reports that the Warriors are unsure whether they want to bring Allen in, Haynes says the interest between Allen’s camp and the Cavs “is mutual.”

We last saw Allen on an NBA court in June of 2014, averaging a shade under 10 points in 31 minutes per game and knocking down 41 percent of his 3-pointers for a Miami Heat team that fell to Gregg Popovich’s Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals. He said during that series that he would at least consider retirement after it, and struck the same note amid the free-agent frenzy of the following month. But while the two-time NBA champion declined to join Heat teammate and close friend LeBron James after his return to the Cavaliers, and announced after the All-Star break of the 2014-15 season that he would not return for a postseason push, and while he spent the year away from the game becoming an organic fast-food magnate (duh), Allen never formally announced retirement or filed any paperwork with the league, demurring on the topic during an April chat with SLAM Magazine and evidently keeping his options open and the possibility of a return to the floor alive.

Throughout his career, Allen’s conditioning and training regimen were the stuff of legend, a significant element in his ability to remain a healthy and productive sharpshooting role player for the Heat in his late 30s despite being many years removed from his days as a superstar all-around scorer for the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics and Boston Celtics. Allen averaged 9.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from 3-point land during the 2013-14 regular season, making 73 appearances and finishing fifth on the Heat in total minutes played.

Even so, by the end of his run in South Florida, Allen looked to have lost a step, especially on the defensive end of the court, and that was before taking a full two seasons away from the game. He’s set to turn 41 in two weeks. Even if the mechanics of his jumper remain pure, and the touch stays lethal, how much could Walter Ray really have left in the tank at this point?

That’s the question Allen’s going to be asking himself, and that prospective suitors will have to mull over as they consider whether to devote a roster spot to the 10-time All-Star, all-time leader in 3-pointers made and attempted, and future Hall of Famer. If he decides to lace ’em up again, the contenders on his reported list will have to think really, really hard about finding out what he’s got left … if only to avoid the possibility of being on the business end of the kind of deep daggers that the NBA’s all-time long-distance kingpin has been driving into the hearts of opponents since the mid-1990s.