The Golden State Warriors are entering the 2026-27 season with a preseason ranking that says plenty about how the league sees them. In The Ringer’s first power rankings of the year, Golden State checked in at No. 22 overall and landed in the “Sad Play-In Hopefuls” tier.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for a Steph Curry-led team, and Michael Pina made the skepticism clear with a blunt assessment: "There's pretty much no logical reason to feel optimistic about these Warriors."
Pina pointed to the age and durability questions around the roster, writing, "It’s so hard to see everyone else on this talent-deprived ghost ship staying healthy enough to make noise in the Western Conference. Draymond Green is 36 years old.
Al Horford is 40. Kristaps Porzingis moves like he’s 43.
But for all the doom and gloom that comes when a curtain is about to close, there will still be plenty of games where all those guys see the floor, execute a gorgeous brand of basketball, put their pride on the line, and give themselves a chance to win."
Golden State wasn’t alone in that tier. The Warriors were grouped with the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans, while other Western Conference teams such as the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz were slotted ahead of them outside the top 15.
The roster itself hasn’t changed much. Beyond first-round pick Yaxel Lendeborg and veterans Georges Niang and Brandon Williams, the Warriors are bringing back a very similar group to the one that finished 37-45 and fell out of the postseason with a play-in loss. This season, though, they’ll also be without Jimmy Butler (knee) and Moses Moody (knee) while both recover from injuries that ended their year last season.
That leaves Curry and Green carrying the load again, with Brandin Podziemski, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford in the mix as Golden State tries to navigate another loaded Western Conference. At the top of that landscape are teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets.
In Other News...
Steve Kerr Is Pushing Draymond Green Into A Different Warriors Role
Draymond Green says the Warriors are already thinking ahead to a different version of his game, one that would ask him to lean more into scoring than the playmaking-heavy role he has long held under Steve Kerr. Speaking on his podcast, Green said Kerr has signaled a shift for the 2026-27 season, with more of an emphasis on putting the ball in the basket and stretching the floor rather than functioning mostly as a connector for everyone else.
It is a notable wrinkle for a player whose value in Golden State has often come from reading the floor, making quick decisions and living with the occasional turnover because of how much the offense ran through him. If the plan really is to nudge Green toward a more aggressive scoring profile, it would mark a meaningful change in how Kerr imagines the late-career version of one of the Warriors most important voices and most unconventional weapons. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Finally Tighten One Standard Around Curry And Draymond
For years, the Warriors have built their identity around Stephen Curry and Draymond Green carrying an enormous share of the responsibility, and that has sometimes meant a little extra leeway when the game got messy. But Steve Kerrs approach has reportedly shifted, with the coach no longer treating turnovers from his biggest names as something to simply absorb as part of the deal. It fits a broader expectation inside the organization that accountability has to apply to everyone, even the players who helped define the franchises championship era.
The timing matters because Golden States issues go well beyond sloppy possessions, and the roster has not been meaningfully reshaped to ease the burden on Kerrs core. The front office has largely stood pat, leaving the team to make do with what it has while trying to squeeze cleaner play out of an imperfect group. In that sense, the turnover message is less a cure than a reminder of how little margin the Warriors have left when the supporting cast is thin and the standard around Curry and Green is finally getting stricter. [Read more 🡒]
Buddy Hields Latest Move Says A Lot About His Post-Warriors Slide
Buddy Hields latest stop underscores how quickly a veteran shooter can slide from a meaningful role into a much thinner lane. After a reduced stint with the Hawks following his time with Golden State, Hield has now been moved again, this time as part of a deal that sent him and Ryan Nembhard to Charlotte in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith.
The move leaves Hield heading into a situation that does not appear especially friendly for his playing time, with the Hornets already stocked on the wing. Charlotte is also reportedly waiving Nembhard, another sign that this trade was more about reshaping the roster than carving out a clear lane for everyone involved, and it puts Hield in a spot where he will have to fight just to find steady minutes. [Read more 🡒]