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On the record
Called Shots →Golden State's apron-basis team salary is still above the first apron of $209,015,000 on opening night of the 2026-27 season.
Georges Niang appears in fewer than 40 regular-season games for Golden State in 2026-27.
Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis combine for fewer than 200 regular-season games played for the Golden State Warriors in 2026-27.
Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and Will Richard combine for more total regular-season minutes for the Golden State Warriors in 2026-27 than Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis do.
The Golden State Warriors record more than 346 total blocks in the 2026-27 regular season.
Al Horford leads the Golden State Warriors in total blocks in the 2026-27 regular season.
Graham Ike appears in at least 20 regular-season games for the Golden State Warriors in 2026-27.
Al Horford averages fewer than 21.0 minutes per game across the games he appears in among Golden State's first ten regular-season games of 2026-27, October 21 through November 7, 2026, by the official box scores. If he appears in none of the ten, the call is wrong.
Draymond Green plays in both of Golden State's back-to-back games: at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, October 23, 2026, and at the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, October 24, 2026. 'Plays' means any minutes in ESPN's box score for each game. If either game is postponed, VOID.
Golden State holds at least one of its next three opponents under 110 points: at the Denver Nuggets on Monday, October 26, 2026, at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, or at home against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, October 30, 2026. 'Under 110' means the opponent's final score in ESPN's box score, overtime included, is 109 or fewer. If any of the three games is postponed, the claim is judged on the games played; if all three are postponed, VOID.
Written about him
Curry and Podziemski are not expected at Phoenix, a night after Ike started
Stephen Curry said 'Probably not, but I'll talk to the staff' when asked Friday night about playing at Phoenix on Saturday, per Kevin Topley of NBC Sports Bay Area, and Anthony Slater of ESPN reported that Curry is expected to rest and that Brandin Podziemski will miss the game with back soreness. Podziemski said he 'tweaked it a little bit, nothing too serious.' It is the second game of Golden State's first back-to-back, eight days after Steve Kerr said the club does not play Curry in back-to-backs. On Friday the Warriors started Graham Ike, a two-way center, against Memphis with Charles Bassey out with a knee injury; Ike scored 10 points in 12 minutes. Golden State led 106-94 with 3:47 left, did not make another field goal, and lost 111-108 to fall to 0-2. Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Kristaps Porzingis are also out.
Horford played both nights of no back-to-back last season, and Friday starts one
Golden State lost its opener 127-105 at the Lakers on October 21 and plays four games in six nights from Friday: Memphis at Chase Center on October 23, at Phoenix on October 24, at Denver on October 26 and at Minnesota on October 28. The first two are the season's first back-to-back. Kristaps Porzingis is not expected around the team in the immediate future, the club said Wednesday, and ESPN reported the Warriors are exploring trades for him. Charles Bassey did not play Wednesday with a knee injury. That left the center minutes to Draymond Green, 21, and Al Horford, 17, with two-way big man Graham Ike playing 12, while Walker Kessler scored 26 points on 12-of-12 shooting for Los Angeles. Across Golden State's 16 back-to-backs in 2025-26, by ESPN game logs, Green played both nights of eight, Stephen Curry both nights of five and Horford both nights of none. Golden State opened with all 15 standard roster spots filled, Brandon Williams among them, and sits $347,568 under the second-apron hard cap, by Spotrac.
Podziemski played all 82 last season, and he will miss the first game of this one
The Golden State Warriors ruled guard Brandin Podziemski out of the season opener at the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, October 21, with lower back soreness, Anthony Slater of ESPN reported Tuesday night. Podziemski sat out the previous three days of practice and had been listed as questionable. He played all 82 regular-season games in 2025-26, one of 18 players to do so per Slater, with 43 starts and a team-high 2,333 minutes, and entered the opener on a run of 96 consecutive regular-season games by Basketball Reference game logs. He agreed on October 10 to a five-year, $110 million extension that begins next season. Stephen Curry is listed as probable with right ankle soreness. Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody are out rehabbing knee injuries and Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely.
Porzingis is out indefinitely, and Bassey started when Green and Horford sat
The Warriors announced Wednesday that Kristaps Porzingis, who missed training camp and the first five preseason games, met with general manager Mike Dunleavy and Dr. Rick Celebrini at the practice facility on Tuesday and will remain out indefinitely due to the same health-related matter, but will be around the team. The club said it will give an update on a potential resumption of practice, playing status or timeline when available and appropriate. ESPN's Anthony Slater reported he is not cleared to practice. With Green and Horford resting in Tuesday's preseason game against the Lakers in Las Vegas, Charles Bassey started at center beside Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and Yaxel Lendeborg and played 27 minutes with 12 rebounds, and Graham Ike played 12, in a 101-89 win. The season opens October 21 at the Lakers, with a back-to-back on October 23 and 24.
Kerr wants Green or Horford out there as often as possible. Saturday it was 37 of 48
Steve Kerr said after Monday's practice that he is leaning toward starting Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Yaxel Lendeborg and Draymond Green on October 21, with Al Horford off the bench, as reported by Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. His reason was Horford's minutes: about 20 a game is the limit, and he wants Green or Horford on the floor as often as possible to anchor the defense. Saturday against Sacramento was the only preseason game Horford has played as a reserve. By NBA.com's substitution log, Green or Horford was on the floor for 37:32 of 48 minutes, both for 6:10, and neither for 10:28, of which Charles Bassey covered the last 8:09. Horford averaged 21.6 minutes across 45 games last season by ESPN's game log, 20.0 across the first 30, and did not play both nights of any of Golden State's 16 back-to-backs. The second and third games of the season are a back-to-back. Kristaps Porzingis is expected at Chase Center on Tuesday to meet the performance staff, and Kerr could not say whether he will be available for the opener. Horford is not traveling to Tuesday's game in Las Vegas, which Kerr called planned maintenance.
Podziemski got his $110 million, and Golden State kept most of next summer
Brandin Podziemski and the Golden State Warriors agreed on October 10 to a five-year, $110 million rookie-scale extension, his agent Bill Duffy told Shams Charania of ESPN. The deal is fully guaranteed, carries a trade kicker and ends in a 2031-32 mutual option that, per ESPN, either side can opt into but not out of. Podziemski makes $5.6 million this season and $18.9 million in 2027-28, with maximum 8 percent raises to a $25 million option year. ESPN reports that keeping the first-year salary low was a priority for the Warriors, because his projected cap hold next summer was about $17 million, so the extension costs about $1.9 million of 2027 room. Bobby Marks of ESPN says Golden State could still have $55 million to $60 million in space, counting a release of Kristaps Porzingis, who has $3 million of his $20 million 2027-28 salary guaranteed. Podziemski, 23 and the 19th pick in 2023, played all 82 games last season and starts at shooting guard next to Stephen Curry.
Al Horford is headed back to the bench he sat on for 32 games last season
Steve Kerr moved Al Horford out of Golden State's starting lineup before Tuesday's preseason game against the Lakers and said Horford will most likely come off the bench when the regular season starts, as reported by Anthony Slater of ESPN and Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Gui Santos replaced him, Draymond Green moved to center and Yaxel Lendeborg to power forward. Horford then did not play at all: Luca Evans of the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing a team source, that he was scratched with a left knee contusion as a largely precautionary measure, and Slater reported he will not travel to Portland on Wednesday. The new five of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Santos, Lendeborg and Green played 4:54 together at the start of the game and outscored the Lakers 23-13 in that stretch, per ESPN's play-by-play. Golden State won 124-98 against a Lakers team on the second night of a back-to-back that did not play Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves or Walker Kessler. Horford started 13 of his 45 games for Golden State in 2025-26 and played more than 25 minutes in 14 of them. Kristaps Porzingis remains away from the team with what general manager Mike Dunleavy has called a health issue.
The Warriors have one center who shoots threes, one night at a time
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said at media day on Monday, September 28, that Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with a health issue the club learned of on Sunday, and that he will not travel to training camp at BYU-Hawaii. The club gave no timeline and did not describe the issue. Steve Kerr said the same day that Golden State is 'playing a more modern brand of basketball now, five-out.' Basketball Reference lists three centers on the roster. Porzingis took 74 threes in 356 minutes for Golden State last season; Al Horford took 205 in 969; Charles Bassey has taken 13 in 1,410 career minutes. Horford, 40, did not play on consecutive days last season: of Golden State's 16 back-to-backs he played one night 12 times and neither night four times, per his game logs at Basketball Reference and ESPN. Golden State's first back-to-back of 2026-27 is Memphis at Chase Center on October 23 and Phoenix on the road on October 24. Butler and Moody traveled to Hawaii with no return timeline.
Vogel gets the Warriors defense, and its shot blockers played 1,425 minutes
Golden State blocked 346 shots in 2025-26, 4.2 a game, 26th in the league, and pulled down 31.0 defensive rebounds a game, 25th. It also finished second in steals and sixth in turnovers forced. Three men who are still under contract blocked shots at better than 1.5 per 36 minutes last season: Charles Bassey at 2.52 on 100 minutes, Al Horford at 1.89, Kristaps Porzingis at 1.62. They played 1,425 of the team's 19,805 minutes, 7.2 percent, across 65 games. The next rate on the list is Draymond Green's 0.81. Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis, third and eighth on the team in blocks, are gone, and with the other departures go 75 of the 346 blocks and 578 of the 2,540 defensive rebounds. The three players added since are a rookie forward, a power forward and a guard. Frank Vogel was announced as associate head coach on September 17 and Steve Kerr says he is turning the defense over to him. Vogel's twelve seasons as a head coach produced three defenses that finished first in the league and two that finished third. Camp opens in Hawaii on September 29. Two takes filed.
The Warriors Are Counting On The Three Men Who Played The Most Minutes On A 37-45 Team
Steve Kerr told the Tom Tolbert Show on Friday that Golden State tried to get younger this offseason and could not, that nothing offered to the club made sense to him, and that depth is now the answer. He said the back end of the roster, including the two-way players, has to hold the fort until Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody return in the second half. Golden State's published schedule lists 80 regular-season games with dates, and 47 of them fall before February. The men Kerr named already carried the largest share of last season's minutes: Brandin Podziemski led the team at 2,333, and Gui Santos and Will Richard were fourth and fifth. Stephen Curry was sixth and Butler eighth. That arrangement produced 37 wins and 45 losses. Butler turns 37 on September 14 and is listed OUT. Two takes filed, on minutes and on Richard's starts.
Steve Kerr Floated A Starting Lineup With A Rookie At Small Forward
Steve Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area on September 3 that he would not predict a record, and in the same conversation named the lineup question he has to answer in camp: Yaxel Lendeborg at small forward, Draymond Green at power forward, Kristaps Porzingis or Al Horford at center. Kerr also said out loud that he cannot count on his older players for 82 games. Those four played 171 of a possible 328 last season, when Golden State went 37-45. Jimmy Butler, who turns 37 on September 14, is not expected back until the second half; Moses Moody is not expected back until 2027. Two takes filed, on Lendeborg's minutes and on how many games the four veterans reach.
The Warriors Spent The Summer In One Column
Gary Payton II is back at the minimum, joining Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton. Five re-signings, no additions of consequence, and a roster nobody outside the building can even count exactly.