UPDATE (10:35am PT on Saturday): The Warriors announced Saturday morning that they have officially signed guard Briante Weber to a 10-day contract.
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The Warriors on Friday took a step toward solving their roster imbalance, waiving backup center Anderson Varejao to create a roster spot for NBA Development League sensation Briante Weber.
Varejao is relentlessly cheerful, always willing to engage in conversation on a variety of subjects. He is a solid veteran presence on an NBA team. Those characteristics were factors in the Warriors' decision last July to re-sign Varejao to a one-year contract, but they were not enough to justify keeping him on the roster.
So it was not a surprise Friday afternoon, when the Warriors announced they were waiving the 34-year-old.
The team will fill the vacancy by signing Weber, a 6-2 point guard, to a 10-day contact, according to multiple league sources.
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He is expected to be available for Saturday night's game against the Kings in Sacramento.
Weber, who on Thursday was named NBA Development League Player of the Month for January, announced Friday on Twitter that he would be joining the Warriors. The Heat and the Hornets reportedly were interested in signing him.
[RELATED: Briante Weber takes to social media to introduce himself to Warriors fans]
"He's kind of small, but he gives you something at both ends," one NBA Western Conference scout said Friday. "He has a very good chance to stick, if not with the Warriors then with somebody else."
The moves by the Warriors address a roster that was heavy on big players and light on pure guards.
"We're OK most of the time with our guards," coach Steve Kerr told CSNBayArea.com last week. "But we know we're thin. It's something we've been watching and will continue to watch. We realize we'll need to do something in the coming weeks."
An exceptional athlete, Weber in January averaged 21.5 points, 8.3 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 steals for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He posted five double-doubles and two triple-doubles, including 18 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Virginia Commonwealth product adds depth behind starter Stephen Curry and primary backup Shaun Livingston, who has missed the past two games with a mid-back strain.
Varejao was one of eight players listed at center or power forward, not counting Kevin Durant, who started at power forward Thursday night against the Clippers. Varejao was the second oldest of the big men (two years younger than David West) and played the least by far, logging only 92 minutes over 50 games.
