The Golden State Warriors largely stayed put this year, with the only notable trade bringing in Chris Paul in exchange for Jordan Poole. However, even though the Golden State Warriors are a team that is mostly the same, that doesn’t mean they don’t have the personnel to field a variety of versatile lineups.
It is highly unlikely that the Golden State Warriors will bench Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, or Draymond Green at this moment. If there was a fourth mainstay in the lineup it would be Andrew Wiggins, who has transformed himself into a player that is a star in the 3 and D role. However, that last spot in the starting lineup is very interchangeable, and inserting different players into the last spot can have very different effects.
In this article, we will discuss three potential starting lineups for the Golden State Warriors. Each of them has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it’ll be interesting to see what Steve Kerr goes with.
Lineup No. 1
PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Andrew Wiggins
PF: Draymond Green
C: Kevon Looney
This is the starting lineup that the Golden State Warriors ran throughout the majority of the 2022-23 season. This is also the lineup that won them the 2022 championship, and this starting five offers a combination of offense, defense, and rebounding. It is perfectly balanced.
Sometimes, it is just best to stick with a lineup that works. It is hard to advocate to make changes to a lineup that has won a championship. Continuity is underrated in the modern era of basketball, where players frequently switch teams. One of the benefits of this lineup is the chemistry between the five players, and nothing can beat the bonds of winning a championship.
With that being said, sometimes a lineup can get stale as well. There were a lot of times in this postseason when the Golden State Warriors were struggling to get consistent offense outside of Stephen Curry. Though the Draymond Green and Kevon Looney frontcourt is elite defensively, there are times where having two poor scorers can make the Warriors offense stagnant.
This is probably the most likely starting lineup for the Golden State Warriors on the first day of the 2023-24 season. However, that doesn’t mean that it cannot be changed down the line, especially if the team is inconsistent as it was during the 2022-23 season.
Lineup No. 2
PG: Stephen Curry
SG: Klay Thompson
SF: Andrew Wiggins
PF: Draymond Green
C: Jonathan Kuminga
The second lineup benches Kevon Looney in favor of Jonathan Kuminga. This move will inject some more athleticism into the starting lineup, and Kuminga can help the team on many levels.
One of the issues with the Golden State Warriors as a team right now is their relative lack of athleticism and rim pressure in the starting lineup. They have been a jumper-reliant team, which can make them a little one-dimensional (but still good).
Jonathan Kuminga solves some of those issues. He is a strong, athletic forward who can effectively defend multiple positions, and on offense, Kuminga can be a lob threat. Though Kevon Looney is a good defender, he isn’t as good of an overall player as Jonathan Kuminga right now. Perhaps now is the time to try out something new, and bring on one of the members of the Warriors’ young core.
The combination of Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins would also give the team elite perimeter defense. They would have the size and length to guard elite forwards like Kawhi Leonard or LeBron James effectively.
Overall, the primary goal of this lineup is to try a different approach and make the team more dynamic. Inserting Jonathan Kuminga into the starting lineup does just that. Of course, that might not solve every problem for the team, but it is a start to finding solutions.
Lineup No. 3
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Stephen Curry
SF: Klay Thompson
PF: Andrew Wiggins
C: Draymond Green
This lineup would have the Golden State Warriors lean into being a small-ball team, starting three guards in Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson. The main benefit of this lineup is the elite spacing that it offers, as well as there being a good combination of ballhandling and shot creation.
The key here is the fact that the Golden State Warriors would be starting all five of their best players. Chris Paul is an elite playmaker even at this age, and he is also a solid shooter, averaging 37.5% from the 3PT range. Historically, Paul makes every team that he is on better, and it makes sense to start him with the rest of the core players on the roster to see what this lineup could potentially do.
The main thing with going ultra-small is the team leaning into offense. In the modern era, a team needs firepower and shooting to compete at the highest level. In the Warriors system as well, offensive players have to know their role around Stephen Curry, and this lineup consists of seasoned veterans who know what is expected of them on the court.
The Warriors have historically been at the best with Draymond Green at the center position, and this lineup would obviously mean that they would start the game with the forward at the center from the jump. With that being said, the one concern here is that Draymond Green might not hold up playing the center position throughout the whole season, so this seems more like a situational lineup when the matchups are favorable.
The goal with this lineup is for the Golden State Warriors to simply outscore the opposition. They would still have some solid defense from Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins, though, and as long as they are passable on that end this lineup has a high ceiling.
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