With Stephen Curry sidelined on Tuesday due to a sprained ankle and Andrew Wiggins out dealing with a back strain, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr decided to revamp his starting lineup, removing Jonathan Kuminga and inserting Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Buddy Hield alongside Trayce Jackson-Davis and Draymond Green. As Kendra Andrews of ESPN relays, Kerr explained his thinking following an 18-point win over New Orleans.
“Without Steph and Wiggs, I didn’t want to start Trayce, Draymond, and JK,” Kerr said. “I wanted a little more spacing. I knew it would be a JK game. I knew he would play a lot … this is just about combinations and getting a bit more spacing on the floor to start. All it is, is shuffling the lineup to try to get the right five-man grouping out there.”
Although Kuminga came off the bench for the first time this fall, his 17 points and 28 minutes were both season highs. Still, while Kerr made it clear with his comments and rotation decisions that it wasn’t a demotion for Kuminga, it would have been easy for him to view it as one. Asked after the game how he felt about the move, the fourth-year forward, who will be a restricted free agent at season’s end, suggested to reporters that he and Kerr didn’t have any sort of extended conversation about it.
“It wasn’t my decision. I got a text, this is how it’s going to go, this is who it’s going to be, and I went with it,” Kuminga said. “What am I supposed to do … ask why am I not starting? This is the decision of the coach, and we will follow what he’s going to do. … At the end of the day, I’m still a professional. I’m going to do what I’ve got to do.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Lindy Waters has seen the floor in all four Warriors games, but Tuesday was the first time he earned rotation minutes, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The 27-year-old guard delivered in a major way, racking up 21 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in nearly 31 minutes of action. Golden State was a plus-26 in those minutes. “From day one of camp, this guy has been one of our best players, frankly,” Kerr said, joking that he’ll have to expand his rotation from 12 players to 13 when everyone is healthy in order to incorporate Waters.
- Kerr and the Warriors plan to continue using an extended rotation for the foreseeable future, according to Andrews, who hears from sources that the club wants to use the first 30 games to trim that rotation based on which role players make the strongest cases for minutes.
- Taking a look back at the Warriors’ offseason pursuits of Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN covers some familiar ground while also providing a couple new details. According to Youngmisuk, Kuminga’s name was never seriously discussed with the Clippers in regard to George — Golden State’s offer likely would have consisted of Wiggins, Moody, expiring contracts, and “some draft capital,” Youngmisuk writes. The Clippers weren’t interested, since taking on Wiggins’ contract would have meant continuing to operate over the tax aprons and may have complicated their pursuit of a young star in the future, sources tell ESPN.
- The Santa Cruz Warriors have announced their training camp roster ahead of the 2024/25 G League season, with former lottery pick Kevin Knox among the headliners.
The Warriors winning without Steph is a big deal, lets see if they can keep that up
Yes it’s a huge deal. Usually they stink up the place when he sits out. The game started looking that way in the beginning, they were down 20 and I thought it was going to be a long night.
Trade Payton, the draft rights to Jessup, Cady with a 2nd for a veteran C please
Warriors fans are always crying for this.
Who are you suggesting they trade for? Who is available?
And more importantly, what team would want Gary Payton and that contract in exchange for a GOOD big man?
Quick edit, if Moses Moody keeps shooting like this, instead of trading away Scrappy Gary Payton, who hits the three-pointer regularly by the way, perhaps Moses can actually bring in a decent good man if you include draft capital?
Now you might have something. But I’m still wondering who? Who’s available?
Walker Kessler would be a good young tall center that plays defense. Unfortunately Jazz are real high on him but they need better players than what they have. Moses Moody would be a upgrade over what they have. Robert Williams is another which Portland should trade since he spends more time on the injured list. Duren from the Pistons could be another one they can try to get.
They were also without Melton. Shows that good coaching wins games. The defense came up big. Strength in numbers fits this team real good because there will be nights like these when you need production out of the entire bench.
Yes they looked pretty Scrappy out there. Guys diving for loose balls and a lot of tipping for eventual rebounds and keeping the boards alive.
Kyle Anderson had a weird game last night. 0-9 with 1-2 on FTs, but he had four assists and five steals and was +9 in his 19:49 on the court. Looked like Draymond out there, lol. If he can clean up his offense and look more like the ’22-’23 version of himself, he could be very solid for the Warriors.
Happy to see Waters finally getting a real chance, also. OKC just had too many guys in front of him, so he never really got a chance to show off much. But his size and shooting touch are both very good, and his movements have always looked solid at the NBA level. He could be a 6th or 7th man on most teams, imo, maybe a starter on the lower end of the league.
Waters !!
Moses Moody had a great game again, but if he doesn’t watch out Lindy Waters moves ahead of him in the rotation. Hasn’t happened yet but oh boy with Moses locked up contract-wise they don’t need to discover his attributes right away.
He signed for 3 years and can sit on the bench with no problem as they figure out if Waters is for real or not.
Anderson played great defense on Williamson last night. His shooting was off but his defense was the key in the second half.
Where’s Davey?
There was was one play last night that sticks out, and it was a FAST break situation or at least could have been if Moses Moody knew how to SPRINT.
But Buddy Hield either secured the rebound or received the outlet, and was in the middle of the court and leading the FAST break, and you could see him looking at the right lane and Moses Moody.
Did Moses SPRINT to the hole for a pass and a layup? Of course not, he was going 3/4 speed and Buddy waited for the FAST break to happen, but reluctantly had to go to the left side and an alternate, less effective play.
And that’s just the way Moses approaches the game. Mr casual.
But I was glad to see him make those two 3’s in garbage time to give him a really great stat line on the night. I hope he continues this good production. Dubs can’t have too many good shooters, especially come the trade deadline.
We need to put the Laurie Markkanen and Paul George trade talk from last summer to bed.
Everyone on this website knows Jonathan Kuminga was never included and that the Warriors wanted to dump and trade away Andrew Wiggins and Moses Moody.
Throw in whoever else needed to make the numbers work like Looney or Gary Payton or draft picks. But we’ve covered this ad nauseam.
Of course I had to comment that we don’t need to talk about it anymore so I can state AGAIN that Moses Moody is OUT come the trade deadline. Anytime I can throw that in I’m going to do it lol.
Keep hitting buckets Moody, Warriors will get more for you in February, or earlier.
i never been a big fan of either one of them. laurie to me is way over rated as a big man. George is always hurt. The warriors still need a big man against big centers but laurie is not the answer.
Yes absolutely correct, but it’s funny the Warriors always look at their OFFENSIVE potential even when scouting out big men. See Markkanen.
The big man needs to be a rebounder, defensive presence underneath, and all the rest of that. Warriors looking at big men offensively LOL
Oh my goodness my fingers are tired. What’s that.., 23 comments in one article for me? Okay break time. See you at lunch LOL