‘Milwaukee West’ Warriors sign UVA’s Reece Beekman

Golden State and Mike Dunleavy Jr. signed another Cream City star to a two-way contract

Some NBA teams focus on international prospects. Others, like the New York Knicks, zero in on members of the 2016 Villanova Wildcats. The Golden State Warriors, with a front office led by Cream City high school hoops standout Mike Dunleavy Jr., focus on the city of Milwaukee.

Kevon Looney. Jordan Poole. Patrick Baldwin, Jr. And now, Reece Beekman. Golden State has gone hard on Milwaukee players in recent years, and Beekman, born and raised in Milwaukee until high school, is the next in the line.

Golden State’s GM played in Wisconsin for the first two years of his high school career, while his father was head of the Milwaukee Bucks, then returned to play for the Bucks from 2011-13. Since joining the Warriors front office, Dunleavy has advised on drafting Poole (from Rufus King High) and Baldwin (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where his own dad coached) and re-signing Kevon Looney (Alexander Hamilton High) two two different contracts.

He also traded Poole and Baldwin to the Washington Wizards together, because Milwaukee is all about the buddy system.

If you’ve ever wondered about the suspicious amount of cheese curds and La Croix sparkling water in the Warriors locker room, wonder no more.

Beyond the Milwaukee connection, it’s easy to see how Beekman is a fit on a two-way deal with the Dubs. He’s only 6’1” but he’s a monster athlete and a great point-of-attack defender, winning the ACC Defensive Player of the Year award the last two seasons. Beekman can be a disruptive presence on defense, and maintained an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3:1 for his last three college seasons.

Maybe he’d fit in better with the Warriors if he did turn the ball over all the time, but it feels like Beekman fills a need.

He also delivers some impressive dunks, like one that wowed Steph Curry in January of 2023, when he was attending a Cavaliers game with UVA legend Ty Jerome.

The knock on Beekman is that he’s not much of a shooter, though he upped his scoring to 14.3 points a game his final year at Virginia, which is more impressive considering how slow that team plays. But that’s what a two-way deal is for. It’s better to have a player with one elite skill like Beekman and see if the Santa Cruz Warriors development staff can coach him up into an adequate shooter.

Beekman’s destiny is likely a career backup point guard, but that’s a valuable thing to have. No matter which mid-major Midwestern city outside of Chicago you’re from.