Anderson Varejao signs with Golden State

Anderson Varejao was one of the loyal players of the Cleveland Cavaliers but the team had to trade him in order to make an upgrade.

Anderson Varejao has reached agreement with the Golden State Warriors on the veteran’s minimum for the remainder of the season. The defending champions have a need inside given the recent loss for at least six weeks of key backup Festus Ezeli to knee surgery.

The Warriors have not yet announced a deal with Varejao, but it has been reported and was confirmed by CSNBayArea.com through multiple league sources Sunday night. He was traded to the Trail Blazers along with a conditional-first round pick on Thursday as part of a deal that netted Cleveland Channing Frye from Orlando. He played for them for 12 seasons.

While Varejao is the odd man out in the Cavs’ rotation that included bigs Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Timofey Mozgov, the 33-year-old Colatina, Brazil native is still one of the most reliable post defenders and could also provide decent inside scoring. He spent the previous seven seasons with the Sacramento Kings, where he produced a career-best 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in 2009-10. Kerr said. “I don’t even know, am I allowed to even mention his name?”

The Warriors reportedly will waive little-used center Jason Thompson to make room for Varejao on the roster. And when Bogut and Ezeli are back to full strength, Varejao will add frontcourt depth to Golden State’s already incredibly deep bench. This season, Varejao has averaged just 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10 minutes per game, playing 31 games thus far. He has also played 71 playoff games but missed last year’s postseason for Cleveland because of a torn left Achilles.