The Golden State Warriors converted Anthony Lamb’s training camp deal right into a two-way contract after the team’s preseason finale against the Denver Nuggets on Friday. On Sunday, general manager Bob Myers addressed an issue from the third-year forward’s past.
In 2021, allegations of sexual assault and rape against University of Vermont men’s basketball players — including Lamb — emerged online. Lamb was with the Houston Rockets when the allegations were made.
No criminal charges were filed against Lamb, and a league source has told The Chronicle that the NBA investigated the case and “found nothing” that specifically implicated Lamb.
Myers said the Warriors investigated the allegations made against Lamb with each the league and the 2 teams that had signed him previously, the Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs, and located nothing. Myers also made it clear that if Lamb were involved in an ongoing criminal investigation, the team wouldn’t have moved forward with signing him.
“It’s tough because we take that very seriously,” Myers said. “But at the identical time, it’s difficult. Because if someone is accused of something but not charged or convicted, and we then deny them a possibility, is that fair too? But again, that’s something we take very seriously. But we are able to only at times have a look at what the law has done and in addition follow the leadership of the NBA.
“If the NBA had said this just isn’t something we’d recommend or do, or there’s an ongoing investigation, we might not have moved forward. They’ve more information than we do in this case and we needed to lean on that. We needed to lean on the prior teams that signed him. Our general counsel looked into it himself.”
Lamb, 24, signed a two-way cope with the Rockets in 2020-21 after averaging 18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and three.7 assists with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, earning the G League’s Most Improved Player award. He averaged 5.5 points and a pair of.9 rebounds in 24 games with Houston.
Lamb signed a 10-day contract with the Spurs last season under the COVID-19 hardship exception, but spent many of the 12 months with the Vipers, where he won a G League title and earned All- G League third-team honors. He appeared in three preseason games for the Warriors before signing his two-way deal.
C.J. Holmes covers the Warriors for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email:
cj.holmes@sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @CjHolmes22
