The Warriors made one of the splashiest moves of the offseason when they acquired Chris Paul from Washington after he was sent to the Wizards by Phoenix in the Bradley Beal trade. Even though the Warriors sent out Jordan Poole in the deal, lineup questions arose for Golden State, who return 2022/23 starters Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney — that could leave CP3 as the odd man out in the starting five.
However, appearing on a recent episode of Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill’s “Good Word With Goodwill” podcast (Podcast link), Andscape’s Marc J. Spears said he expects the Warriors to start Paul.
“I do expect him to start. And I think it’s like five-minute spurts,” Spears said on the podcast. “I don’t know that they really want his minutes to be high, but I think they’re gonna try it. I could be wrong, but that’s the gist I’m getting. This isn’t an opinion that he’s expected to start; it’s what I’m hearing. He’s never not started in his career.”
As Spears notes, Paul has started in all 1,214 of his NBA appearances. If that streak continues, it means one of the Warriors’ entrenched starters would have to move to the bench. Looney is a natural candidate, but the Warriors are lacking size and going that route would put them at a disadvantage in that regard, since it would make 6’6″ Green and 6’7″ Wiggins the tallest players in the lineup.
We have more notes from the Pacific Division:
- The Kings plan to sign and then waive Skal Labissiere on the same day, meaning he won’t report to the team’s training camp The Kings Beat’s James Ham tweets. This was always the expected outcome for Labissiere, especially after the team secured his G League rights in a trade on Friday. Labissiere, 27, played for the Kings from 2016-19 after being drafted by the team with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2016 draft. He holds career averages of 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 148 NBA appearances between the Kings and the Trail Blazers.
- Warriors rookies Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis are becoming closer throughout the offseason, recently touring several attractions in San Francisco, Shayna Rubin of The Mercury News writes. Podziemski and Jackson-Davis, who could both play rotational roles for a Warriors team seeking to contend, are becoming acclimated to the city and the franchise, according to Rubin. Rubin reports that the two were part of a players-only mini-camp hosted by Curry at the end of August, and the entire team grew closer as a result of the event.
- Signing Christian Wood is the latest in a series of flashy Lakers moves this offseason, but Heavy’s Sean Deveney writes that rival executives believe coach Darvin Ham is going to have his hands full with developing and sticking to a rotation. “They’re deep,” the executive said, per Deveney. “They’re 12 deep. That’s great when you look at it on paper. But when happens when the ball goes up and you’re playing nine guys, and one of those guys is playing eight minutes? That gets sticky for a coach. [Ham] is as good as anyone at relating to players, but a depth chart like that can be a coach’s nightmare.” Deveney suggests that Wood wouldn’t have joined the Lakers if his role wasn’t going to be big. Los Angeles also brought in a handful of players in free agency, including Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince, while retaining Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell. Second-year player Max Christie is also in line for more playing time.
for warriors I see Davis having the better chance of being a future role player for warriors. Podziemski needs to improve his defense against bigger players. In the NBA you are going against the best in the world and they will push smaller players around.
He hasn’t played a game yet? You haven’t even see him play defense
Baron Davis retired
My opinion was that Chris Paul would begin the season coming off the bench but after thinking about it, starting makes the most sense especially what is mentioned above- the 5-minute spurts.
In the playoffs and to close out games Paul will be on the floor and needs familiarity with the closeout group so starting will help bring that about. Makes sense to me.
I am in a wait and see what happens on bench or start. He could have Paul start and Curry come off the bench to start games. It will also be according to match ups. If Paul demands to be a starter and doesn’t want to be a team player I would bet he gets traded mid season.
I think it’s Dray that comes off the bench, he seems as if he’d the most willing. I could seem playing a role similar to Iggy early in the championship runs. Plug and play defender and smart passer to run the 2nd unit, of course he’d be in the closing lineup. Less wear and tear in the long run.
What the warriors want is Paul to run the second team when Curry is off the floor. Last year when Curry sat the team had no leader and they needed to adjust and have Green lead the second team that worked. Green does need to play less minutes to stay healthy.
There is zero chance they start paul and have curry come off the bench.well, almost zero, unless curry is coming off an injury or something,otherwise there’s no way they have their franchise player in the bench.
Lmao. Dude said Paul start and Curry come off the bench. Curry is NEVER going to come off the bench unless it’s because he’s returning from an injury or long layoff. That’s the worst take I’ve seen in a while
Did you miss the word could? Curry only cares about winning and will do what is best for the team. There will be match up and rest times that Curry does comes off the bench. 15 games back to back this season means Curry will be resting a lot.
Curry is not coming off the bench.
CP is not coming off the bench.
Draymond IS coming off the bench.
If that doesn’t work out, Paul will be traded.
If anyone comes off the bench it’s Looney
Maybe it will depend on matchups? Maybe some games it’s Looney some games it’s Green. Perhaps some games it’s Klay Thompson or even Chris Paul. Maybe they mix and match as the season rolls on?
But that’s starting five really is a magical combination. You definitely don’t want to sit Wiggins he seems to be teetering on the brink of being a star and crawling under a shell depending on circumstances. You have to keep him engaged and starting etc.
You have the worst takes
At the tender age of 38, it might be too much to ask for CP3’s ego to come off the bench??
I guess getting killed by the Lakers size in the playoffs told the Warriors to go even smaller. Bold strategy
I think it was the bench that killed the Warriors. They had no one. The starting five is Leaps and Bounds better than any other five in the NBA by far when you look at the numbers. And that’s with a 6-9 Center and a 6-6 power forward.
To start this season I think they’ve addressed the bench issues a little bit. Back up 4/5 who can shoot, two seasoned back up ball handlers, drafted a young 4/5 who can run shoot defend after 4 years in college, and then the hope is that Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody can grow this year and contribute something. If not Podski the rookie might take their minutes as a wing shooter distributor.
Size didn’t kill GSW. Lakers bench stepped up with Walker great game stole one of the games and Wiggins injury in game 7. LeBron went after Wiggins injured shoulder with 2 direct hits into the injury on the first 2 plays. Knocking him out for the rest of the game.
Starting is the most overrated thing in Basketball. Who cares, it’s about minutes played.
One guy starts and averages 17 ppg.
Another guy comes off the bench and averages 17 ppg.
Which one makes more money?