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According to the San Francisco Chronicle, one team official said Webber's return to the Warriors is a "50-50" proposition while another source said an announcement could be made by the end of the week.
Suitors will likely offer Webber the pro-rated veteran's minimum of $1.2 million. Other teams believed to be interested include the Lakers and Pistons.
Last week, it was rumored that former Piston Chris Webber might join the Miami Heat. Now it is the Golden State Warriors, according the San Francisco Chronicle. Talk about a bi-coastal personality.
In a story first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday, Chris Webber seems set to return Golden State, the place where he started his NBA career.
Barring an unexpected change of heart, sources said, Webber will accept the invitation from former coach Don Nelson and former teammate Chris Mullin to come back to the team with whom he won NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 1994, only for Webber to force a trade to Washington some six months later when his prickly relationship with Nelson collapsed. "I hope that it happens to be quite honest with you," Nelson told Bay Area reporters Sunday before the Warriors hosted the New York Knicks. "I think our team needs it."
Nelson made his own surprising and triumphant return to Oakland last season, guiding the Warriors to their first playoff berth since they went 50-32 in Webber's rookie season in 1993-94. Sources say Nelson and Mullin, now the Warriors' vice president of basketball operations, are confident that the 67-year-old coach and Webber are ready for this seemingly hard-to-fathom reunion after multiple conversations in recent days.
There have been numerous teams linked to interest in Chris Webber over the past few months
Reports this morning out of Oakland have the Golden State Warriors signing free agent Chris Webber sometime soon, possibly Tuesday. That means he won
Looks like C-Webb will be a Golden State Warrior again, maybe by tomorrow. He was rookie of the year for the Warriors 14 years ago, then left abruptly after feuding with coach Don Nelson who is back for his second tour of duty. The two patched up their differences, apparently.
I know it seems like a bad fit, but Nelson is thinking in terms of playoff match-ups. Sooner or later, he figures he has to play San Antonio or Houston or even the Lakers and will need some kind of post presence. Right now, he's got none on the offensive end. As he said, the addition of Webber can't make his team any worse in that area.
The Pistons, by the way, aren't heartbroken by this development. As I reported all along, they kept the door open for him but the odds of him coming back here were long against. When Joe Dumars told Webber that he wasn't going to buy out any contracts to make room for him, that was the tipoff that they weren't overly anxious to bring him back. They did not and will not make any last-ditch effort to get him.
Coach Don Nelson wants to bring free agent forward Chris Webber back to Golden State, nearly 14 years after a feud ended their first stint together. "I hope that it happens, to be quite honest with you," Nelson said Sunday before the Warriors beat the New York Knicks 106-104. "I think our team needs it."
Webber could sign with the Warriors as early as Tuesday, ESPN.com reported, attributing the information to sources.
Webber has not played in an NBA game since the Pistons lost to Cleveland in last season's Eastern Conference finals. The Pistons did not bring Webber back this season and he has been looking for a team. Webber averaged 11.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists last season with Philadelphia and Detroit.
Webber could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday, but sources insist that he would be Golden State-bound now even if the Detroit Pistons made an 11th-hour bid to re-sign him. The Warriors have offered to sign him for the rest of the season for a pro-rated share of the league's $1.2 million veteran minimum.
After a second-half stint with his hometown Pistons last season that ended in defeat in the Eastern Conference finals, Webber told ESPN.com in October that he would only play "as a Piston" this season . . . "unless something crazy happens." But he has relaxed that stance in recent weeks.
Although the Pistons have retained an interest in bringing Webber back all season, they would still need to clear a roster spot to make room for the 34-year-old and have either been unable or unwilling to do so. Pistons president Joe Dumars indicated last week that the club was unlikely to buy out the contract of either Primoz Brezec or Flip Murray just to add Webber.
Chris Webber appears to be ready to return to a former team of his, but he's not going to be coming back to the Pistons.
Webber will reunite with coach Don Nelson and the Golden State Warriors as early as tomorrow, according to ESPN.com.
Webber started his NBA career in Golden State and won the rookie of the year award in 1994, but was traded to Washington shortly there after. Webber played half of last season with the Pistons, who were eliminated from the playoffs by the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Looks like Detroit native Chris Webber is returning to the NBA.ESPN.com reported that Webber, who spent the second half of last season with the Pistons, will be in Oakland today to rejoin the Golden State Warriors, where he won rookie-of-the-year honors in 1993-94, his only year there. "I'll be there tomorrow," Webber said in an e-mail to the Web site. "It's a done deal."
The deal would reunite Webber with former coach Don Nelson, with whom he clashed as a rookie before demanding a trade.Webber might be with Golden State by Friday night when the club returns home to face Charlotte. Nelson apparently masterminded the Warriors' decision to re-sign Webber, who hasn't played in the NBA this season, as a backup big man and offensive playmaker. Some Pistons thought Golden State could be a good fit for the former Birmingham Detroit Country Day and University of Michigan star.
Coach Flip Saunders said it would be a "little strange" but added that "He gives them another guy they can put on the floor."Forward Tayshaun Prince said he'd be interested to see how Webber would fit in with the Warriors. "But with his passing ability and what he can do on the offensive end, he will be able to help that team," Prince said. "A lot of those guys were playing a lot of minutes."
Former Sacramento King Chris Webber confirms he's headed for a mid-season signing with the Golden State Warriors. In a statement released to News10, Webber says, "It is with great pride and humility that I announce my return to the Golden State Warriors
