Brandin Podziemski
Podziemski is a starting guard next to Stephen Curry, but his back soreness has already cost him one game and will cost him a second, so availability is the main risk right now.
Role
He sat out the Warriors' opener against the Lakers with back soreness and made his season debut Friday against the Grizzlies. In that game he played 33 minutes and scored 18 points on 7-17 shooting (Fox Sports/RotoWire, checked 26 October). A Yahoo Sports projection for that game had him starting at shooting guard with Curry, Gui Santos, Yaxel Lendeborg and Draymond Green. It put him at about 32 minutes, tied with Curry, Green and Lendeborg for the team high. That is a projection, not a reported box score. De'Anthony Melton is the displaced starter and goes back to the second unit when Podziemski plays. Will Richard and Brandon Williams also compete for guard minutes. Podziemski has said he will not play the second leg of the back-to-back Saturday against the Suns (wire, Nick Friedell of The Athletic). The Fox Sports page I read instead lists a Saturday game against the Kings with Podziemski starting. I could not reconcile the two, so check the schedule. I did not find a stated minutes limit or a rest plan beyond that back-to-back.
Kerr named him a starter in training camp, and the team gave him a five-year, $110 million extension in October. Fox Sports described him as locked into a starting role next to Curry. Camp coverage noted he averaged over 18 points over his last 22 games of last season, with more than six three-point attempts and almost five free throw attempts a night. Yahoo's projection has him closing games with Curry.
His back is the immediate concern, since it has already kept him out of one game and now a second. The starting group is still unsettled. Kerr said in camp that the opening-night starting five was uncertain, partly because of Al Horford's age and minutes. Last season Podziemski moved in and out of the first unit, and RotoWire noted that Kerr likes to tinker with his lineup. When Curry sits, the backcourt gets crowded with Melton, Richard, Williams and Gary Payton.
Where analysts split
The open question is whether the back soreness turns into a recurring pattern of missed or managed back-to-backs. The sources I found do not otherwise disagree about his role. They do not say whether Kerr keeps the Curry, Podziemski, Santos, Lendeborg and Green starting group together once Horford is available.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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