NBA: Playoffs-Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets
NBA: Playoffs-Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets Reuters

The Golden State Warriors are quietly filling their bench and backcourt roster quite nicely.

Yahoo! Sports was the first to report that former Brooklyn Nets starting guard Shawn Livingston and the Warriors have agreed on a three year contract that will compensate the combo-guard a total of $16M, roughly equivalent to the mid-level exception.

''We intend to enter into a player contract with Shaun Livingston once the moratorium period ends,'' Warriors general manager Bob Myers confirmed in a statement. Per league rules, Myers could not comment further.

The deal is seen as move to stabilize both back-up guard positions for Golden State which relied on several persons last year such as Toney Douglas (before he was dealt), Steve Blake and Jordan Crawford, who was acquired from the Boston Celtics. Both Blake and Crawford are widely regarded not be re-signed by the organization.

With this signing, Golden State is envisioning a backcourt that can utilize Livingston as the main distributor and run the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in a series of down screens. Livingston can also be utilized for low post action which the Brooklyn Nets utilized in some of their half court sets last year. More importantly, the combo guard is seen as the key to defend bigger guards which will improve a defensive ranking which went to as high as 9th in the league last season.

The 28-year-old Livingston is experiencing a career revival of sorts after undergoing a freak knee injury in February 26, 2007 when he was still the young prospect for the Los Angeles Clippers. At 6-foot-7, he averaged respectable numbers of 8.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists for Brooklyn last season.

The departure of the free agent Livingston will expectedly cause some problems for the Nets as it also faces the free agency options of Paul Pierce and the decline of Kevin Garnett. Apart from this, uncertainty also surrounds the return of Brook Lopez and his foot. The high payroll of the club owned by Russian Mikhail Prokhorov will also limit the flexibility of the Nets to offer significant money to potential signings.