Warriors Hot Takes After 1st Month of 2023-24 NBA Season
The Golden State Warriors are only 12 games into the 2023-24 NBA season, but it feels like they've played two different campaigns already.
In the first, they were wholly dominant, winning five of their first six outings and controlling contests on either end of the floor. In the second, they've looked lost and entirely short on non-Stephen Curry scoring options, dropping five of six, including three straight on their home floor.
Given the size of the sample and the seemingly conflicting data on hand, it's tough to make sense of this start, but we'll fire off a trio of hot takes anyway.
Free Agency Won't Be Fun for Klay Thompson
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Previous rumblings of a possible max payday for Klay Thompson seem more absurd by the second.
If he's expecting to find anything close to that kind of coin, he might be shocked at where his market actually lands.
Unless someone—be that the Warriors or an external suitor—plans to pay for his past accomplishments, his contract offers shouldn't land anywhere near that. The 33-year-old has lost several steps on defense (due both to age and previous injuries), and on offense, he's operating mostly as a shooting specialist who's struggling to find his shot. He has rarely leaned heavier on his outside shot (53.5 percent of his field-goal attempts are threes) and never converted them at a worse clip (34.2 percent).
His stat sheet shows some of the worst numbers of his career, and several all-encompassing categories—like player efficiency rating (10.4), box plus/minus (minus-2.6) and win shares per 48 minutes (.032)—are literally the worst he's ever had, per Basketball-Reference. If his numbers don't improve, his contract offers could be closer to the mid-level exception than max money.
The Clock Is Ticking for Jonathan Kuminga
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Jonathan Kuminga is barely a month removed from his 21st birthday, so it's still too early to panic about his lack of progression, but how much longer can the Warriors afford to wait?
They have significant needs for everything he's supposed to bring: elite athleticism, hyper-versatility on defense, shot-creation, ignitable scoring. They could also really use him to help cover for the struggling Andrew Wiggins.
But the leap year he'd promised to deliver has failed to materialize. In fact, he's actually trended the wrong direction and managed to regress. He's lucky everyone is so focused on Wiggins' sluggish start, because otherwise we might all be laser-focused on Kuminga's disastrous numbers: 39.6/17.4/74.5 shooting, 0.6 assists to 1.2 turnovers, 2.9 rebounds in 20.1 minutes.
Limiting his minutes and hoping he figures things out doesn't help the Dubs or Kuminga. If he can't force his way into an expanded role soon, it'll be time to flip him before his trade value completely bottoms out the way James Wiseman's did last season.
Brandin Podziemski Is Already Essential
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When the Warriors invested this summer's No. 19 pick on Brandin Podziemski, there was no question he had the skills to fit this offensive system. But there were concerns of whether he could cut it defensively, and if he couldn't, minutes figured to be tricky to come by since Golden State seemingly had all the scoring it needed.
So much for that.
Podziemski, who's basically been passed over as often as he's played, got his most exposure (by a mile) Tuesday night and promptly delivered the most points from a non-Curry Warrior this season. Podziemski popped for an efficient 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting (3-of-8 from distance) to go along with his seven rebounds, five assists and one steal in 39 minutes.
Just like that, he's already an integral part of this team.
"He's going to play," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters afterward. "He's going to play every night. He's earned that."
