SAN FRANCISCO – March solely sprinkled extra salt on the Warriors’ many wounds because the clouds opened and the solar started to shine within the Bay Area.
Steph Curry missed a second straight month to runner’s knee, and Moses Moody sustained a devastating torn patellar tendon in his first recreation again after lacking the earlier 10 from a sprained wrist. An excellent win towards Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets was adopted by a four-game shedding streak that included back-to-back, gut-wrenching losses to the lowly Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls. The month included a three-game shedding streak, a four-game shedding streak and twice as many losses (10) as wins (5).
So, the place’s the excellent news other than beating the Dallas Mavericks, Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards? We can promise it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
The greatest constructive, by far, was Brandin Podziemski. From the skin, Podziemski has turn out to be a polarizing determine amongst Dub Nation. Between the traces, Podziemski loved one of the best month of his younger NBA profession.
“You always look for silver linings when guys are out and other guys step up,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr mentioned Tuesday after follow. “Whether it’s the minutes for Gui [Santos], for instance, permitting him to take one other step in his recreation, or BP having extra accountability dealing with the ball and seeing extra reps, it’s like the rest: You simply want to do one thing over and time and again to be taught the little nuances, to be taught what you’ll be able to and might’t do.
“The more reps, the better. And these reps this last month have been great for BP.”
Podziemski performed all 15 of the Warriors’ video games and averaged 33.5 minutes per recreation, essentially the most for a month in his three-year NBA profession. The month was stuffed with profession bests for Podziemski. He averaged his most factors per recreation for a month (17.7) and made his most threes for a month (38), whereas his 21.3 utilization proportion additionally was his highest ever for a month.
In a month the place he scored not less than 20 factors in eight of the 15 video games he performed, different aspects exterior of scoring additionally stood out. Podziemski grabbed 10 rebounds in three video games and averaged 6.3 rebounds per recreation, in addition to 4.1 assists per recreation with twice as many assists (61) than turnovers (30).
“Well, No. 1, he’s a competitor,” Kerr says. “He’s there. He’s played every single game, knock on wood. That’s a really hard thing to do, to be there for your team every single game, every practice. He’s a competitor, he loves this. He just wants to be great.”
Podziemski’s ultimate recreation in March, a irritating blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets, was his fourth straight 20-point recreation, dropping 23 on 8-of-14 capturing and 5 of 8 from deep, on high of getting 5 rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot. He says his scoring surge isn’t high of thoughts, however as an alternative the results of letting the sport come to him.
“Not really thinking about that, honestly,” Podziemski informed reporters Sunday night time in Denver. “Just playing my game, taking opportunities when they’re there and letting the results fall where they may. Fortunately, the result has been looking pretty good as of late for me.”
Growing pains nonetheless have been seen, together with final recreation when Kerr outwardly was upset Podziemski tried to dribble previous Christian Braun and compelled a runner with an open Kristaps Porziņģis calling for the ball on the proper wing. Porziņģis was 5 of 5 on threes, and the error flipped the sport within the Nuggets’ favor. Podziemski missed 4 fourth-quarter free throws in that ugly loss to the Utah Jazz three weeks in the past, however then shot 84.2 % on free throws the remainder of the month.
Podziemski recently addressing comments he made at the beginning of the 2025-26 NBA season, when he mentioned he could be the white Shohei Ohtani if he nonetheless performed baseball, and that he needs to be even higher than Steph Curry, was one other signal of development, improvement and maturity. Podziemski is aware of confidence is a power of his, and he is aware of he ought to have chosen his phrases extra properly for the betterment of the workforce.
“I think the growth, you saw it the other day where he admitted, ‘Hey, I shouldn’t have said what I said at the beginning of the year.’ I thought that was great to have the self awareness that, OK, I made a mistake, I got to learn from that,” Kerr mentioned.
“It’s all encompassing really when you think about a young player developing. It’s on the floor, it’s off the floor. It’s recognizing patterns and nuances within the game itself, and then it’s recognizing the emotional side of the team and what the team needs from you. The best teams click in a certain way, and every player has to play a role within that to help the team click. I think he’s really learning that.”
Whenever Curry inevitably returns within the close to future, he’ll return to being the solar that the Warriors orbit of their photo voltaic system. And Podziemski, like the remainder of the Warriors, will profit the second Curry steps on the court docket. He has proven that he can play with Curry, and now is when Podziemski wanted to show he could be relied on to produce with out him.
Podziemski is considered one of solely 4 gamers beneath contract who will enter subsequent season wholesome. He’s rookie contract extension eligible, although that is on the Warriors’ back-burner for now. Maybe he could be a strong commerce chip, too.
That’s all hypothesis. Sticking to actuality, the Warriors shall be with out Jimmy Butler nearly all of subsequent season. Who is aware of if Moody shall be ready to play in any respect. Asking Curry to play 70 video games subsequent season like he did final season looks like an unattainable request.
Even as Podziemski has realized to sluggish his roll and belief the method, one of the best month of his profession confirmed tossing him the keys can preserve the Warriors from spiraling uncontrolled and keep heading in the right direction in conjunction to his private {and professional} development, improvement and maturity as he stays Golden State’s youngest participant.
