The Golden State Warriors have had an up-and-down season, to say the least, but one aspect they've been excelling at has been their G-League development. With all their injuries, five of the ten healthy Warriors were either currently on a two-way contract or had previously been mainstays with the Santa Cruz Warriors.

One such player was rookie guard LJ Cryer, who went undrafted in the NBA Draft this offseason and signed a two-way contract with the Warriors. He has been excelling as a scorer and creator in the G-League after a strong Summer League, but hasn't been a significant factor for the Warriors due to his status as a guard.

That changed on this road trip due to the injuries, and Cryer got to kill two birds in one stone with the Warriors' stop in Houston.

Cryer graduated from the University of Houston last season, finishing off an excellent college career that saw him named an All-American and come up just one game shy of securing his second national championship, after he won one as a freshman with Baylor in 2021.

Cryer was given his Final Four ring at the Houston game on Wednesday night, then had a career outing in just his fourth NBA game, scoring 12 points with 4 triples in 20 minutes in the Warriors' overtime win.

After the game, Cryer talked about how crazy his trip had been and reflected on his situation.

"It's been an amazing past couple of days. Shoot, I thought I was going to be in Santa Cruz not even coming on this trip, but they told me last minute. Got to go to the University of Houston, get my Big 12 Championship ring, Final Four ring. Got to see my daughter, and then got to play here in front of family. It's been an amazing past couple of days."

It's even crazier considering Cryer has been out with a hamstring injury for the past few weeks. 

"(I felt healthy enough) probably like two days ago. They just asked me 'Can you go?' and I was like 'Yeah, it's about that time.' I wasn't expecting to play that many minutes, but I was asked to, and I felt good enough to do it. I just went out there and just tried to do my best."

Despite being just 6-foot-1 and relatively average on defense due to that smaller stature, Cryer's ability on offense might keep him in the NBA for a long while.

Back in college, Cryer was a 3x All-Big 12 selection and an All-American in his final season due to his elite three-point shooting and shot creation. He led the Big 12 in three-point percentage in his final three years, shooting 42.4% on 7.3 attempts per game in his last season.

That hasn't changed at the professional levels for Cryer. He splashed four of his eight attempts from deep on Thursday night against the Rockets, including a clutch three in overtime to give the Warriors a 106-104 lead.

In 18 games in the G-League this year, Cryer has averaged nearly 22 points per game, shooting 44.6% from three on an astounding 10.3 attempts per game. He's an absolute flamethrower from deep, and if the Warriors continue to need his services with all of their injuries, he's sure to be able to contribute in the points column.

It's unclear how much Cryer will play going forward or if he's going to stay in the Warriors' plans for the future, but it's certain that if his number is called, he's going to be ready to put up some buckets.