The Warriors announced in a press release that they have exercised their third-year option on shooting guard Brandin Podziemski.
His $3,687,960 salary for the 2025/26 season is now guaranteed, with the team holding a fourth-year option for ’26/27 valued at $5,679,459.
The Warriors’ decision was an easy one after Podziemski emerged as a rotation regular during his rookie season. He averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 74 games while shooting 45.4% from the field and 38.5% from three-point range. He finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year balloting and was named to the All-Rookie First Team.
Podziemski, 21, made an immediate impact after being taken with the 19th pick in the 2023 draft. His outside shooting and feel for the game made him a valuable member of Golden State’s lineup, and he appears to be part of the foundation for the future.
Assuming the Warriors pick up his fourth-year option next October, Podziemski will become eligible for a rookie scale extension in the summer of 2026.
He is the only Golden State player whose option had to be exercised prior to Thursday’s deadline. You can track all the option decisions around the league right here.
Absolutely an effort player. Gets by on Hustle and persistence and putting his body on the line.
Hopefully he gets better with time. Needs to sharpen up his shooting stroke a little but I sure love his grittiness.
I thought his shooting looked better through the summer with a little faster release. He was slumping in the mask at first but thats to be expected.
All of 10M for this season plus 2 more is why everyone wants him. Cap darling baby!
If everybody wanted podz, he’d be in Utah. Hit the backboard 4 times on three’s last game alone man.
You shoot good with a broken nose in a facemask bro! If he was included with most of the draft capital Utah would have done it…
They wouldnt have kept him either because he fits any capped out contender even second apron teams have someone they dont want at 3.5M who they could dump with draft capital for him.
Why would he be in Utah? The Warriors were never interested in trading him. Where do you get that idea from?
The Warriors never had any interest in trading him. So, why would he be in Utah?
I dont know how he does it or even what kind of player he is, but he sure as heck is a system player in Kerr’s system. Sensational game tonight from Moody with a game high +18 and Podz too with +13 in 38 mins (lol) – the Warriors new dynamic duo!
He just does everything on the court. Not an all star scorer but solid on everything.
If by everything you mean trying to bank three’s, I agree. Is he aiming for the backboard? Sure does hit it alot lol. Pels could easily miss the playoffs, jazz and blazers nowhere near it. ‘I got a feeling, oooh ooh’ don’t you think you guys should give it forty odd games before raising future banners?
Nrg82, Oh you saw that? Yeah he clanked like four of them during the TNT game last night. My goodness I know he’s trying to get going with Curry out, but banking 3’s is not the way to do it LOL.
I’ll buy in to Chapman’s excuse with the mask. Can’t be easy to do anything out there with that Contraption on his face. Hard to believe Rip Hamilton kept wearing it for years after his broken nose healed.
I’m not sure why even bother wearing that? Cop an elbow of big guys, I highly doubt that’s protecting much. With or without he hits backboard first alot. He’s a decent play maker at times but needs that’s three ball, mid range or float game to keep defenders honest. Opposition will be sagging off soon. Obviously makes it harder to get in the key with that happening. Defensively he has size, good anticipation and heart. Not the quickest feet or athleticism. I’m not sure what I think of him. Improve that three, different ball game. I’m actually with Davey. I rate Moody more at this stage.
Glass 3/4 empty and pissed on. That’s how your answers sound. Hater in the house. Look at the stats. Former #1 pick went 5-20. It’s the second night of a back to back. BRICK CITY. Oh and another win. Chalk it up. Move on.
You do realize that Moody has two years on Podz? Moody should be ahead of Podz. Podz was a shooter in college. Podz knows he isn’t the greatest athlete. That’s why his overall game is better.
Once you wear it a lot and practice in it for years its different, and most players back then shot from a lot closer to the cup lols!
Ok Charles Barkley. Warriors are 4-1 right now and been playing 14 players on their team. Its not about self glory of scoring baskets on a bad team but winning. Podz is no Bronny on a team just because his father is on the team.
Nrg82, weren’t you the guy complaining about the 2 airballs that Klay shot on his way to 50+ points in 3 quarters?
About Podz’ 3 pt shooting, you missed:
– he shot 44% from deep, 81-185, in his one year in college, was generally considered the best shooter in the draft
– he shot 39% from deep as a rookie, 90-234 as a rookie
He actually played 2 years of college ball…But…Even if he clanks a few shoots, at the beginning of his 2nd season, he would be one of the few PG with the ability to get his own rebound…In college, he averaged like 8 rebounds a game. A nice skill to have in a PG.
Giants74 , Podziemski was an SG in college, not a PG, so the 8 rpg is a little less impressive than that sounds.
I stand corrected: he played at Illinois before transferring to Santa Clara. Only 69 mins in total for the season, but that still counts.
How many SG average 8 rebounds a game in college? A lot of PFs don’t get that.
Giants74 , don’t get me wrong, 8 rebounds per game for a SG is impressive, and even more so when you consider that Podz led the WCC in rebounding. Consider that Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, who won the Karl Malone Award that season as the nation’s best PF, was second to Podziemski.
My point was that as rarely as we see SG’s that can rebound like Podziemski, there are far fewer PG’s that can. Oscar Robertson, Magic and Russell Westbrook come to mind. (IIRC Westbrook set a record for the most rebounds off his own misses.)
He is so young too, he has a lot he can work on but already has a high floor. His energy is very unfocused right now, but that will come with maturity. At worst he is GP2. A great draft pick overall.
He’s a top 5 player on the team for sure, a Godsend for Warriors.
He absolutely is not a top 5 player, he’s another GP2, who is honestly their worst player. But he looks like Kerr so Kerr thinks he can live vicariously through him and therefore gives unlimited minutes over Moody, who always deserved that playing time more.
He has the best +/- in the NBA through 5 games…
But, but, but…As Davey J would say, the Warriors are idiots for doing this. They have to trade him right now. Podz has the lowest ceiling. Podz is stealing minutes from Moody because he looks like Kerr’s son…Now…He is good in Kerr’s system. What system is that? They overhauled the offense.
DaveyJ , Moody is playing very well. Incidentally, do you know he leads the league in points during garbage time? Seriously.
Yeah he has saved his shooting % with some gimmies vs G league guys late in blowouts as one of the only real players on the floor. His scoring numbers have been pretty s*** outside garbage time.
Kinda looks like a 12M mid level rotation depth 8-10 guy right now whos young enough to turn into something more. I dont know if he will ever be defensively good enough to be more than a 6th man instant offense bench guy at peak. I love him on the contract he got and he will probably improve enough to make it a decent underpay by the end when its like 7% of the cap.
That is a perfect assessment of Moody’s ability, role, and contract value over its 3 seasons.
Ha…Davey J is so butt hurt over Podz. What is his issue? Kerr is living vicariously through Podz? It sounds like Davey is living vicariously through Moody.
Now I’m going to really irritate him. ESPN put out at pre-season ranking of NBA players. They had Podz at #78; Moody wasn’t on the list.
You were doing good until bringing up the stupid-a** ESPN list. Picking names out of a hat would make a better one.
My only point at bringing up the ESPN list is that more than just Kerr sees him as having skills. So far, his 2nd season hasn’t been a let down. Nobody knows how far he could go. But, it would be a shame to dismiss Podz over some petty grievance.
Giants74 , that’s impressive about the ESPN ranking, I missed that — #78 after only 1 season according to a panel of experts. And, selected to the All-Rookie team, as voted by > 200 journalists.
Moody is going to have a good career as a solid rotation player, glad we have him. But no expert would expect he’ll ever make a Top 100 list based on what he’s shown to date. I hope he proves me wrong.