Who is Pat Spencer? Closer look at former Northwestern player as Golden State Warriors new guard

The Golden State Warriors has reportedly filled one of their open two-way roster spots, signing G League guard Pat Spencer to a two-way contract. He replaces Lester Quinones, whose contract was converted into a standard NBA deal on Tuesday.

Spencer, 27, who played a season of collegiate ball at Northwestern after starring with the lacrosse team at Loyola Maryland, has spent the last two seasons playing with Golden State’s G League affiliate Santa Cruz Warriors.

In the 18 games he has played with the Sea Dubs this season, the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals in 27.4 minutes.

In signing a two-way contract with Golden State, Pat Spencer can bounce back and forth between the NBA and the G League, as seen fit by the Warriors.

At Golden State, he joins a backcourt crew led by All-Stars Steph Curry, Chris Paul and Klay Thompson, along with the likes of Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II and Quinones.

As a two-way player, meanwhile, Spencer hopes to follow along the footsteps of Duncan Robinson (Miami), Lu Dort (OKC), Chris Boucher (Toronto), Alex Caruso (Chicago) and Naz Reid (Minnesota) in finding their niche in the league.

Golden State is ranked ninth in the Western Conference with a 27-26 record. The Warriors return to action on Thursday at home against the LA Lakers.

Pat Spencer was a star lacrosse player in college

While Pat Spencer is now trying to carve a name for himself in the NBA, back in college, he was one of the best lacrosse players while playing for Loyola Maryland.

He is the NCAA leader in assists(231) while also ending up as the Patriot League’s all-time leader in points with 380.

The Pennsylvania native was the recipient of the Tewaarton Award, given to the nation’s top college lacrosse player, in 2019.

On the same year, he was selected first overall in the Premier Lacrosse League draft. But instead of pursuing it, he used his final year of collegiate eligibility to play basketball at Northwestern University.

In one season with the Wildcats, despite having limited basketball experience at the collegiate level, he started in all but two games and averaged 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated back in 2019, Pat Spencer spoke about his desire to play basketball, saying:

“After my freshman year of college I knew I wanted to play basketball, but I had a pretty good year — we went to the Final Four, so it would’ve been way too weird to step away [from lacrosse] at that time.”

He added:

“I loved the situation I was in at Loyola, but unfortunately, basketball and lacrosse overlapped too much, and it wouldn’t have been possible to play them both. I knew after that year I was going to play basketball again, just obviously wasn’t sure where down the line.”

Pat Spencer continued with his basketball career, making it to the G League with the Washington Wizards’ affiliate Capital City Go-Go in 2021. He played one season there, averaging 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists, before moving to the Santa Cruz Warriors.

After three seasons in the G League, he has career averages of 11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists.