Green and Lendeborg are plus 53 apart and minus 40 together
Golden State is plus 23 through eight games and has been outscored by 40 in the 78 minutes Draymond Green and Yaxel Lendeborg have shared. Gui Santos, the forward they have won with, misses Miami on Thursday.
Gui Santos is out again Thursday against Miami, ESPN's injury report says, his second straight game with the knee. That reopens a starting spot Steve Kerr has given to four different players beside the same four starters, and it sits next to the two Warriors with the worst margin of any pair that has shared 30 minutes.
Draymond Green and Yaxel Lendeborg have played 78 minutes together across six games. Golden State has been outscored by 40 in them. In its other 306 minutes it is plus 63.
| On the floor | Minutes | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Green and Lendeborg | 78.4 | -40 |
| Green, not Lendeborg | 81.0 | +34 |
| Lendeborg, not Green | 177.0 | +19 |
| Neither | 47.6 | +10 |
| All eight games | 384.0 | +23 |
Neither man carries the number alone. Lendeborg averages 21.5 points, second on the team to Stephen Curry, and leads it with 255 minutes. Green is plus 34 without him. The losing happens in the overlap.
Where the 40 went#
The gap shows up first in turnovers, then in Golden State's own threes.
| Together | All other minutes | |
|---|---|---|
| Minutes | 78.4 | 305.6 |
| Golden State turnovers | 38 | 89 |
| Golden State threes | 22 of 65, 34% | 107 of 267, 40% |
| Opponents' threes | 22 of 68, 32% | 79 of 218, 36% |
| Opponents' field goals | 77 of 151, 51% | 254 of 534, 48% |
| Points per 48 minutes | 110 to 134 | 120 to 110 |
That is 23 turnovers per 48 minutes together and 14 otherwise. Green has 11 of the 38 and Lendeborg 9. Green has also taken seven threes in 159 minutes this season, and made two, so a defense guarding Lendeborg in those minutes has a man it can leave. A box score cannot prove that is the cause. It can say the threes fell at 34 percent with both on the floor and 40 without.
The sample is six games, and it is lumpy. They were plus 12 at Denver and even at Minnesota. Thirty of the 40 points came in 16 minutes against the Lakers on October 30 and Phoenix on Monday, nearly all of them in first and third quarters.
The timing also favors the other column. Seventy percent of the pair's minutes come in first and third quarters, when opposing starters usually play. Sixty-two percent of Green's minutes without Lendeborg come in second and fourth quarters. Some of the 74-point gap between those two rows is who was across from them, and these logs do not separate it.
Curry's presence does not separate it either. He was on the floor for 74 of the 78 minutes and for 79 of Green's other 81. Curry and Green are minus 38 with the rookie and plus 35 without him.
The spot beside them#
The forward next to the pair has moved the margin more than anything else Kerr has tried.
| Third forward with Green and Lendeborg | Minutes | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Santos | 29.2 | +5 |
| Georges Niang, no Santos | 15.9 | -1 |
| Will Richard, no Santos or Niang | 9.5 | -11 |
| None of the three | 23.8 | -33 |
Most of the bottom row is one night: 12.9 minutes and minus 18 in the 111-108 loss to Memphis, when Graham Ike started and Santos came off the bench.
Santos has now missed two games. Kerr started Niang at Minnesota on October 28 and Richard against Phoenix on Monday, and Niang also started Sunday against the Clippers, when Santos came off the bench with Curry and Green out. ESPN's report names Richard and Niang as the candidates for more minutes.
Each one answers a different part of the table. Richard has 3 turnovers in 144 minutes and is 7 of 17 from three. Niang has 11 turnovers in 159 minutes and is 9 of 31. Niang is plus 27 in 64 minutes beside Green without Lendeborg. Richard and Lendeborg are minus 32 in 97 minutes, the second-worst margin of any pair with 30 minutes together.
The stretch#
Miami, 3-5, comes in Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific. Orlando follows Saturday at 5:30 and New Orleans on Monday at 7, the end of the six-game homestand. Golden State then plays five on the road in nine days, from Houston on November 11 to Dallas and Memphis on consecutive nights, November 18 and 19.
ESPN's report gives Santos no date past Thursday. Green is not on it, and the league had announced no discipline for him as of early Thursday. Brandon Williams, who missed Monday with a left quad contusion, is not on it either.
The read: Will Richard starts Thursday against Miami. The case for it is that Kerr chose him the last time Santos was out and Curry and Green were both available, and that Richard has been the most careful with the ball of the three forwards. The case against is that Niang has started two of the last three games Santos did not, Richard's 6.8 minutes beside the pair on Monday went minus 13, and Monday's choice came the night after Niang started against the Clippers, which is not the case Thursday.
Sources: ESPN box scores and play-by-play for events 401909092, 401909850, 401909860, 401909876, 401909888, 401909285, 401909905 and 401909919, and NBA.com box scores and play-by-play for the same eight games, for minutes, plus-minus, starters, shooting and turnovers; lineup figures rebuilt from those logs against the box scores, where a basket or free throw on the same clock as a substitution can move a split by a point. ESPN's Warriors injury report, November 5, 2026, for Santos, Green and Williams. Schedule, tip times and Miami's record from ESPN. NBA Communications for league discipline, November 5, 2026.
