The Warriors are heading into opening night with a problem that already looks too big to ignore.
Golden State starts the season Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the center spot is suddenly hanging by a thread. Kristaps Porzingis is out again because of another mysterious illness, and reserve big man Charles Bassey is questionable for Wednesday after dealing with knee tendinitis.
That leaves the Warriors with a precarious mix inside. Al Horford, now 40, is expected to be on managed minutes.
Graham Ike, a two-way big man, may end up being a real option in the opener if Steve Kerr needs size against Lakers’ behemoth Walker Kessler. Beyond that, the team is left piecing things together with Draymond Green and Yaxel Lendeborg in small-ball looks.
That kind of setup can survive certain matchups, but it is not a long-term answer. It also asks a lot of Green, who is 36, and Lendeborg, a rookie who is already carrying meaningful offensive responsibility.
Porzingis’ absence puts Golden State in a bind, even if the front office knew this sort of issue could happen when it gave him a two-year, $40 million deal before free agency. On paper, the fit makes sense. In practice, the reality is impossible to ignore: he has not played more than 65 games in a season for a decade.
So the question becomes simple. How long can the Warriors really ride with an absent Porzingis, an aging Horford who will not play back-to-backs, an unproven Bassey who may be managing a knee injury, and a two-way player in Ike? Not long.
That is why Golden State may already need to start searching for center help, either as a short-term insurance option while Porzingis is out or as a more meaningful upgrade capable of handling a starter’s workload.
The good news is that the Warriors do appear set in other areas. Their guard depth includes Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton and Brandon Williams. Their forward group should also look stronger once Butler returns, with Butler, Lendeborg, Green and Gui Santos forming a solid mix.
But none of that changes the biggest issue. Center is the clear hole, and if the Warriors do not address it, they risk spending the season hoping for a Porzingis miracle while falling back on small-ball answers that are not built to last.
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Kerr also made clear that Butler remains a different kind of presence when he is around the group, which matters for a Warriors team trying to keep its ceiling intact while waiting on his return. The bigger question now is not just when Butler gets back on the floor, but how much his mentality and two-way edge can eventually raise the standard for a team that will be measured from the start by how it handles these early games without him. [Read more 🡒]
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Steve Kerr Just Made The End Of This Warriors Era Feel Real
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The interesting part is how naturally Kerr tied his own decision-making to the arc of the veterans who have defined this run. He said he could envision retiring alongside Curry and Green, which is the kind of remark that makes the end of an era feel less abstract and a little more real. For now, Kerr is talking more about the excitement of this team and the start of training camp, but the fact that he is already framing the finish line is its own signal about where the Warriors are headed. [Read more 🡒]