The Golden State Warriors are heading into the 2024-25 season with a new look and solid depth across rotational positions behind Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. Due to the relatively even depth across the roster, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is working hard to figure out the optimal rotations and starting lineup. He called this the most difficult decision of his career while speaking to the media at practice on Sunday.
“I have a sense of what I’m going to do but this is the most difficult decision-making I’ve ever had since I’ve been here in terms of who’s playing off the bench. Like I’ve been saying, I’m comfortable playing every single guy in the rotation, and I can’t do that. I’m excited but I’m also not going to feel great on Wednesday when I leave a couple of guys out.”
Steve Kerr also emphasized the importance of the Warriors being organized on both ends this season to have a chance at sustained success and a Playoff run.
“We have to be much sounder defensively. We’ve got to continue to work on coverages on certain actions, that we’re going to see consistently. And we’ve got to continue to learn some of the new offensive things that we’re putting in.”
The Warriors went 6-0 over preseason, dominating opponents primarily through their supercharged offense. The loss of Klay Thompson was expected to be a detriment to shooting, but replacing him with multiple shooters has reaped rewards in preseason basketball.
Golden State ranked seventh in preseason attempts, attempting 42.3 threes per game. Their conversion on those attempts was a key reason behind their preseason success, leading all NBA teams on 3P% with 38.2% (16.2 makes per game) shots finding the basket.
Who Should The Warriors Start On Opening Night?
The Warriors will face the Portland Trail Blazers in their season opener on Wednesday, with many anxiously waiting to see the team compete with a refreshed core around Curry and Green. But the three players who’ll be tasked with starting alongside them will be under the spotlight in light of Kerr’s comments and the changes on the roster.
Two players who likely will be starters to reinforce a defensive focus in the lineup alongside Green should be Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski.
Podziemski unseated Klay as a starter last season, averaging 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, so it’s hard to see him falling out of that spot especially when the Warriors turned down a potential trade for Lauri Markkanen to keep Podziemski on the roster.
Jonathan Kuminga is highly coveted internally as well, showing flashes of being a two-way star for the franchise through the latter half of the season, averaging 16.1 points and 4.8 rebounds.
The final starter will likely not be written in stone at any point this season, with matchups dictating if the Warriors add more offense or size to the five. Draymond can’t be the starting center the entire season, so there’ll be times when Kevon Looney or Trayce Jackson-Davis will be starting alongside to provide an interior presence.
If Draymond is the center and Kuminga is the power forward, the team will likely decide between Andrew Wiggins and Buddy Hield. I’d go for Wiggins due to his defensive impact and activity compared to a one-dimensional shooter like Hield who will have hot and cold streaks.
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