The Warriors have spent the early part of the offseason staying mostly quiet, and that restraint has only sharpened one of their biggest roster questions: what exactly do they do with Brandin Podziemski?
Golden State has re-signed Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and De'Anthony Melton, all three expected to matter in a big way next season. Yaxel Lendeborg also appears to have a real chance to help right away, at least based on what he showed in summer league.
Beyond that, though, the roster picture gets thin fast. Even if the Warriors somehow land LeBron James, they still need young, available talent.
At this point in the offseason, the options left to fill out the roster are mostly cheap veterans.
That reality puts Podziemski in the middle of the whole operation. By 2026-27, he is supposed to be a major offensive piece and a dependable backcourt answer for a team that badly needs help there. But his looming extension makes the whole situation messier, not cleaner.
Podziemski’s 2025-26 season offered both a reminder of his upside and a warning about the risk. Even with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler on the sidelines at times, he never fully settled in as a primary scorer at the NBA level.
He did have stretches that stood out. Over his final 24 games of 2025-26, he put up 17.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists while shooting 38% from three.
Still, the bigger pattern has been harder to ignore. When defenses locked in on him, Podziemski often looked uncertain and out of rhythm. So far, he has not shown he can be counted on as a steady scorer, and he has not established himself as a dependable shooter from either the perimeter or the mid-range.
That makes the extension conversation tricky for Golden State. If the Warriors pay too much, they risk boxing themselves in not just for the rest of the Curry era, but for the rebuild that follows. A deal that climbs past, say, $23 million annually could turn into a real problem.
And yet Podziemski also holds leverage. With the roster the way it is, he is going to be asked to carry a major load for long stretches, especially when Curry misses time. Golden State’s inability to keep enough young talent around has pushed Podziemski into a cornerstone role whether he has fully earned it or not.
So the pressure only keeps building. As the offseason continues, the Warriors are left with a blunt reality: they can’t really afford to do anything other than extend the fourth-year guard.
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