National Basketball Association

Santa Cruz Warriors Acquire Rights to Phil Pressey

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Santa Cruz Warriors have announced they’ve acquired the returning player rights to Phil Pressey from the Salt Lake City Stars via trade.

The Santa Cruz Warriors announced Thursday morning that they have acquired returning player rights to Phil Pressey following a trade with the Salt Lake City Stars. Santa Cruz loses a 2017 second round pick, as well as as the returning player rights to 2015 NBA D-League Defensive Player of the Year, Aaron Craft.

Pressey, 25, is a 5-foot-11 point guard that last played for the Idaho Stampede, which is now known as the Salt Lake City Stars following the team’s move to Salt Lake City, Utah for the 2016-17 NBA D-League season.

In 31 games played last season for the Stampede, Pressey averaged 13.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 2.0 steals, shooting 43 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from behind the arc. In addition to his time spent with Idaho last season, Pressey also received two separate call-ups to the NBA, averaging 3.4 points and 3.3 assists in 23 games split between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns.

In more recent news, Pressey reportedly earned an invite to training camp from the Golden State Warriors, an acquisition that Blue Man Hoop felt would be extremely beneficial for the Santa Cruz Warriors if Golden State chose to cut him before the regular season.

Not to call it too early, but Santa Cruz acquiring Pressey’s rights appears to be a rather telling move. With much more familiar names like Cameron Jones, JaVale McGee, and Elliot Williams competing for the Warriors’ final roster spot, it seemed more and more likely that Pressey would emerge as the top floor general for Golden State’s D-League affiliate rather than the third string point guard in Oakland. This recent move by Santa Cruz seems to solidify that notion.

And though as exciting as it may be for Surf City fans to potentially have such an exciting, dynamic point guard joining the roster, Santa Cruz still loses a a piece of it’s history in trading away Aaron Craft. Going undrafted in 2014, Craft, 25, earned his stripes with Santa Cruz early on, helping to lead the team to a 2015 NBA D-League title.

As a 6-foot-2 point man, Craft’s scrappy style of play on both ends of the floor solidified him as a fan favorite, someone that fans just couldn’t help rooting for night in and night out. Fans continued to support him after he made the decision to play overseas with the Szolnoki Olaj KK in Hungary, welcoming him back when he returned to Santa Cruz last January.

Santa Cruz will surely miss Craft as he heads to start his new chapter with Salt Lake City.