Steve Kerr is asking Draymond Green to play a very different kind of game this season, and it starts with one simple instruction: get moving.
“The whole point for him early in camp, get down the floor,” Kerr said. “We don't want him trailing the play.
The biggest adjustment for him. He's trailed the play for us for years. ...
“And when he's down the floor, that could mean he's in the corner. That could mean he's on the wing. He's still gonna be involved in the action.”
For years, Green has functioned like a de facto point guard, either pushing the ball in transition or hanging back as an outlet. Kerr wants that to change. The idea now is for Green to be up the floor immediately more often, which means less time with the ball in his hands and more time in a spot-up role.
That shift comes with a clear reason attached. Green posted the worst turnover percentage in the league last season among qualified players, finishing at 25.5 percent. His assist-to-turnover ratio dropped to 2.08, his lowest since his second season.
Green has always lived on the edge as a passer, but last season the balance tilted too far toward the risk side. Kerr’s answer is part role change, part system change, and part urgency about cleaning up a problem that has dogged Golden State. The Warriors finished 26th in turnover percentage last year.
That’s why the move toward a five-out offense appears tied so closely to cutting mistakes. Green, who has already been told Kerr wants him taking open threes despite a career 32.1 three-point percentage, should spend more time spacing the floor than orchestrating it.
Still, Kerr says the Warriors are not tossing out everything they’ve built. The structure will change, but the familiar pieces won’t disappear.
“We're still gonna have our play calls [after] dead balls, free throws,” Kerr said. “That's kind of a different situation.
We'll still have our sets that we're calling. We'll still see some of the split-cut action that we do.
But we're trying to be more organized, especially in flow, in transition.”
That split-action has long been part of the Warriors’ identity, often starting with a mid-post touch and a screen to free Stephen Curry for a three. But that kind of post-entry work runs against the logic of a five-out setup.
So the big question hanging over this season is straightforward: which version of the Warriors will produce the better offense, the new spacing-heavy look or the old approach?
The first preview arrives Sunday, when Golden State faces the Clippers in a preseason game. The Warriors will start Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Green and Al Horford, with Curry, Green and Horford expected to play only the first half.
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Warriors Suddenly Have A Yaxel Lendeborg Concern Fans Can't Ignore
Yaxel Lendeborgs preseason night against the Lakers came with a scare when he turned his ankle, a jolt the Warriors could have done without as they continue sorting out their rotation. He did return briefly, and afterward he said the injury was not severe and sounded optimistic about where things stood, which at least offered some immediate relief for a team already trying to get its roster into shape before the regular season.
Still, any issue involving a player under consideration to start is worth watching closely at this point in camp, especially with Golden State also managing other injuries across the roster. The Warriors need these final preseason reps to help clarify roles, and Lendeborgs status will be part of that picture until the team gets a better sense of how he responds in the days ahead. [Read more 🡒]
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Burton arrives with some NBA experience after previously spending time with the Memphis Grizzlies on 10-day contracts, and he now gets his own chance to compete for a spot in mid-October. For a team still fine-tuning the edges of the roster, the call says as much about fit and opportunity as it does about performance, which is why this one figures to draw plenty of debate from fans who were hoping Kellys preseason would carry more weight. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors May Have A New Rookie Dilemma After Lakers Scare
A preseason scare in Los Angeles briefly put the Warriors on edge when rookie Yaxel Lendeborg appeared to twist his left ankle, only to head back into the game after a quick evaluation. The moment served as a reminder of how much Golden State has already leaned on the first-round pick, who has been one of the more steady presences in camp and is quickly looking like more than just a developmental piece.
Lendeborgs response was the kind of answer teams like to see in October, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 26 minutes. For a player selected No. 11 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, the bigger question now is less about whether he belongs and more about how the Warriors manage his growing preseason role as the games start to matter a little more. [Read more 🡒]