Kendra Andrews, ESPN
LAIE, Hawai’i — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has a very open-ended question he is hoping to answer throughout training camp: Who is going to be in his starting lineup?
There is an obvious opening at the shooting guard position — a job formerly occupied by Klay Thompson. But there are other opportunities as well; Kerr said that all but Stephen Curry‘s starting job is up for grabs.
“There is competition across the board,” Kerr said Tuesday following the Warriors’ first session at BYU Hawai’i’s campus. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Who is going to be the 2?’ It’s got to be — ‘Who is going to be the 5? Who’s the 4?’ We know that Steph is the 1. But what’s the combination?”
Searching for lineup combinations was a season-long struggle for Kerr and the Warriors in 2023-24. Golden State used 27 different starting lineups, and none for more than a handful of games in a row.
Part of it was dependent on who was available, but more so because the group was not cohesive. With the revolving starting group, the bench unit also struggled to find cohesion. Kerr said all of that will be part of the conversation at camp.
“The starting lineup is going to have to be dependent, not only on the first five fitting, but the second fitting as well,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to figure out lineups. All the guys can do is compete, play their ass off.”
At the center position, the battle will be between veteran Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis. In the frontcourt, Draymond Green will likely retain his starting job, but Kerr sees newcomer Kyle Anderson as an option for a small-ball 5.
Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins, who struggled to share the court last season, will compete for another frontcourt spot.
In the backcourt, there will be a competition between Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton and Buddy Hield. All present different skill sets and attributes.
“We have a defensive-minded guy like Melton. You’ve got a guy who’s a connector and can put the ball on the floor, create like BP, and obviously me and BP started a couple times last year,” Curry said. “You’ve got Buddy who can shoot, who spaces the floor and is a veteran. We’ve got a lot of options.”
Curry, like his coach, noted it’s not just about who pairs nicely next to him in the backcourt, but who would complement the other starters as well, and also beef up the second unit.
In making these lineups, the Warriors are prioritizing being an elite two-way team, similar to how they were en route to their 2022 NBA championship. The other focus is supplementing their shooting.
Podziemski said he’d like to attempt eight to 10 3-pointers per game, while Kerr named Wiggins as a contender to be the team’s second-leading scorer.
“I want Wigs shooting six, seven 3s,” Kerr said. “I want Brandin, I want Moses, I want De’Anthony — I want to be a high-volume shooting team. I think that’s important to us. The big shift is Klay is not here. So we were fourth in the league in 3-point attempts last year, but Klay probably shot eight to 10 of them, so we’re going to have to fill that void. That will come from multiple people.”
Even Looney and Anderson have been working on their shot.
As Kerr and his staff search for their combinations and an identity, they do so through a different lens than last season.
“This feels like a new beginning for us, whereas last year felt like an extension of who we already were,” Kerr said. “… It gives us a chance to reinvent ourselves a little bit.”
He continued: “It’s easier when you know your starting five and you know your first four guys off of the bench. Way easier as a coach knowing that. But we don’t have that. So let’s turn that into a positive and turn it into competition. … Let’s establish our identity out of that competition.”
