Gui Santos signed a three-year extension with the Warriors and says it secures his family's future after his journey from Brazil through the G-League. He chose guaranteed money over free agency, credits his love for the organization and teammates like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, and is stepping into a bigger role as younger players develop while veterans rest.
Chapters
Hey, Gui, congratulations, number one, on the contract extension. Just how do you describe your emotions of that coming together today?
Man, there's a lot of things that comes in my mind when, you know, like you see your work, like, get rewarded, you know? It was a lot of work since I got here. Through the G League, you know, even before playing in Brazil. You know, all the resources that we have there is not much, you know, and just to make to the league is a big, big thing. But even be able to, like, get an extension in the best organization in the world, that's no words that can describe this feeling, you know, especially when—
Uh—
You know, there's the basketball, you know, be a part of the Warriors, play with Steph and all that. But one thing that's really important for me is like my family. And you know, when you get the, like, the shirt that you're going to be able to like help them for, you know, for long, long, long years. So it's just amazing. It's a great feeling, man.
In your conversations with your agents and with the team, what was the decision-making process like in terms of getting guaranteed money for a long term versus like hitting restricted free agency?
Right now, when they, you know, offer me the deal and you look back, even if you look like how many second-round picks, like late second-round picks, got the chance just to extend it, you know, so I love the Warriors. I love the organization. I love the people here, you know, all the strength coach, all the coach, all the physiotherapists, all the players, and everybody, literally like everybody in this organization. It's so special for me and just be able to be here for more 3 years, you know, and you get a, like I said, like my family in a good spot and also just be around like guys like Steph and— Steph Curry. Draymond, like Jimmy, you know, it's a special feeling. So that's when I got the deal. I had no doubt about it.
And how did your family react to the news?
They were very excited, emotional, you know, like they more than everybody, they know how tough it was for me to make here. So just to have them, the call that I told them, you know, I was kind of serious. Like, "Dad, Mom, I got something, like, serious to talk to you guys." And they thought that I got my fiancée pregnant.
So, no.
No, but, no, that's another one. I got extension, and all of them was emotional and happy.
When you—
My bad.
Paul, go ahead. When you reflect on your journey, are there lessons or moments that you think can be helpful for the next generation of Brazilian basketball players?
Yeah, yeah. I've been in a spot that I was watching, you know, a lot of players from Brazil in the NBA. It was, I think, 9 of them at some point playing in the league at the same time. Right now, I'm the only one here. So I'm the— like the biggest example when you look to the basketball and NBA, that is the biggest level that you can get. So everybody look and have me as an example. So for me, it's just trying to be like, you know, a great guy, trying to be like, show that the work ethic is the most important thing, you know, because that was what got me here in this position. You know, Steve—
Steve.
All the time it was like, "See what I can do to get on the court." That was like a simple, simple answer from him. Like, "Gui, just play hard as you can. Just go there and find Steph. That's it." And I start doing that. Then I get some little bit more minutes. And then with the Jimmy, you know, Jimmy get hurt. That was big, big loss for us this season. That opened up a little bit more space for me to, so I can show a little bit more like what I can do and do a little bit more than just like be an energy guy. But overall, like, just be a good example for our kids in Brazil and show that if you work, you get what you deserve, you know.
Gui, Moses was talking about this a little bit, that obviously with your big stars, a lot of them are out, that the younger guys are in charge. Well, not in charge, but you know, obviously the role switches. Do you feel that? And do you feel something happening that can be developing that this— you younger guys, I'm talking Brandon obviously and Moses, yourself, maybe a few others, are formulating something now?
Yes. I can say that we're doing that a little bit, you know. You can see Moses might be one of the best shooters in the league right now, you know. BP is a great playmaker for us. I'm doing the kind of stuff that, like, trying to help the team, like little stuff and everything that I can to help the team. We creating something right now, so, you know, in the future, we all want to play together. But at the same time, you still haven't Stephen, you know. So until the time that we have this guy for around us, we know that he's like, he's the guy that gonna make the difference for us. And he's the guy that gonna change everything. Just for him to be allowed to step on the court, If just he step on the court, that's a big difference for us. Just confidence because everybody know that he's there. All the other teams are so worried about him, so to guard him, and the young guys can do a little bit more, more space, more freedom. We don't have to, you know, create all this stuff. Steph just do some big work and we just do the easy work. But I think we are creating something for sure, but we still having Steph, Draymond, we still having Jimmy. So that's a, big squad that we gotta respect everything they have done in the league and with the Warriors.
When you called your parents and acted all serious, were you purposefully trying to trick them, or where did you initially think that their head was gonna go with all that?
No, no, I was purpose— like doing that on purpose because, you know, when you got a call from your son and say, "I got something really serious to talk about," they know my life was good. I was not doing nothing wrong. That was the only thing that could happen, like, "Oh, we got a mini Gui coming here." So yeah, but that was just a joke and they were like, "Ah, okay." Yes, that's— but if that was the news for them, they would love it too.
But it's kind of a different—
Now you get a board.
Yeah.
I gotta get— now I can get some more Gui Santos.
All right, all right.
You just referred to yourself briefly as an energy guy, and that's what Kurr has called you, obviously. So coming out in a game like this when you needed energy, did you look around and see some of it was lacking tonight at the beginning of the game?
Yes. I would not say the energy, but our effort on defense, you know. Also, that's a little bit of energy, but our effort on the defense was not like the best games, you know. When you got to guard Luka, LeBron, you know, these guys are really tough to guard. And when you don't really, really do your best effort on defense, it's really tough to win a game like that. So I think that was the biggest, the biggest, you know, thing that we didn't do that hurt us today. All right. Thank you.
