Shaun Livingston was recently cleared to play 5-on-5 basketball and although he only feels about 75% physically, Dave Reynolds of the Journal Star reports that 10-12 NBA teams have expressed interest in the Clipper free agent.

One of those teams should be the Golden State Warriors.

After a horrible injury in February 2007, Shaun Livingston played in scrimmages last week for the first time in 17 months, according to Reynolds. However, Livingston reportedly turned down a one-year guaranteed contract from the Clippers, who recently signed Jason Williams instead. That means Livingston has to look for a new home while he recovers.

Having already turned down guaranteed money from the Clippers, you have to wonder what Livingston is looking for? And what could the Warriors offer to make this happen?

A two-year “try-out” contract

San Jose Mercury News sports writer Tim Kawakami was all over the second question last Friday when he suggested on his blog that the Warriors offer two years and about $1.7 million dollars guaranteed to Livingston. His rationale:

If I’m the Warriors, and I haven’t yet decided whether to re-sign C.J. Watson, and I’m still not sure Ellis should and will play full-time minutes at point guard, and I don’t know yet about Marcus Williams’ dependability (and I don’t want Williams and Ellis to be my long-term back court combo)… I offer two years, $1.7M guaranteed...

Given the uncertainty surrounding the Warriors point guard situation, Livingston provide another young option with plenty of talent. If Livingston recovers and performs well by the much-anticipated summer of 2010, then either the Warriors can look to add him to their long-term plan or he can look elsewhere for a better fit having proved that he can still play.

What the opportunity boils down to is a mutually beneficial two-year “try-out” contract – Livingston gets a chance to prove he can still paly and the Warriors get to see if Livingston is another piece of the solution at point guard. For the Warriors, it’s low risk, high reward.

Kawakami goes on to support his argument with eight very convincing reasons why the Warriors should offer Livingston the contract. However, I hope to extend that argument with reasons why Livingston could want to come to the Warriors.

Time to Recover

First, even after Livingston feels 100% physically, he’s will still have to re-adjust to the physicality of the NBA. We’ve already seen a similar case of a tall guard recovering from an ACL injury – Penny Hardaway – and as you may remember, he never returned to form. And Hardaway was an all-star prior to his injury; Livingston was only a still developing part-time starter who came straight out of high school before his injury. He was still developing when he went down and will need time to get back to where he was. So it’s probably unfair to Livingston to believe he can come in and produce right away.

However, in suggesting potential destinations for Livingston, a

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