It was announced by Anthony Slater of The Athletic that the Golden State Warriors have extended qualifying offers to both Ty Jerome and Lester Quinones. Jerome’s qualifying offer was $1.7 million, and it was a two-way qualifying offer extended to Quinones. This will now make both players restricted free agents, meaning the Warriors will have the option to match any offers the two players were to sign elsewhere.
This is standard process for players like Jerome and Quinones, because while they do not project to be in Golden State’s immediate plans, making them restricted free agents allows the Warriors to not lose them for nothing – assuming they don’t sign offer sheets well above their predicted market value.
The Warriors are no longer committed to their two-timeline plan, but they do want to make sure they preserve some young talent in their system, and extending qualifying offers to Jerome and Quinones is one way to make sure they don’t lose two young players for nothing.
Jerome appeared in 45 games for the Warriors last season, averaging 6.9 PPG in 18.1 minutes per contest. The 25-year-old guard converted on 38.9% of his shots from deep, which made him a useful piece for Golden State in games they were heavily depleted due to injury. Jerome had some key moments for the Warriors last season when given an opportunity to play.