SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors had a busy Monday, starting the morning in the Bay Area with its annual media day before boarding a flight in the afternoon to head to Hawaii to open training camp Tuesday morning.
Chase Center saw some familiar faces in head coach Steve Kerr and veterans Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford and Jimmy Butler III at the microphone. But the message was not as familiar. Rather than talk of “chasing a championship,” the discussion surrounded “reimagining our team” and “focusing on the process.”
The Warriors already knew they are starting the season shorthanded while Butler and Moses Moody continue to recover from knee injuries suffered last season. But they were dealt another blow on the eve of media day, which General Manager Mike Dunleavy revealed to open the morning.
1. Porziņģis to miss start of training camp
Dunleavy was the opening speaker at media day and wasted no time in dropping some breaking news: Kristaps Porziņģis is “out indefinitely with a health issue.”
Dunleavy added that he was informed about the issue on Sunday and that Porziņģis will not accompany the team to Hawaii for the opening of training camp. He added that Porziņģis had been at the Warriors facility in the past week and was cleared for participation at the time.
“I just got word of it yesterday,” said Dunleavy. “He finished the season last year, and he was in last week doing well and everything. Again, I don’t have a timeline on it. Hopefully he’ll be back soon, but this is something we just found out.”
Porziņģis has navigated a variety of health issues over the past few seasons — from the end of his run in Boston, his brief stint in Atlanta and following his arrival in Golden State at February’s trade deadline. Dunleavy would not speculate whether this health issue is related to the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) Porziņģis had dealt with in the past.
Horford, who was a teammate of Porziņģis in Boston and now Golden State, stressed patience as Porziņģis recovers.
“It’s definitely challenging and difficult to deal with that,” said Horford. “I know he wants to compete, and he wants to be out on the court. It’s just for him to be patient at this point, and he’s usually been able to overcome things, but patience is kind of like the name of the game right now … I just hope that he’s able to recover and be in a good place so he can roll with us.”
With Porziņģis sidelined, more responsibility will fall on Horford, Green and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg on the Warriors’ frontline.
2. No timeline for Butler, Moody returns following knee injuries
Butler III (ACL) and Moody (patella), who are both recovering from knee surgeries, will both make the trip to Hawaii with the team as they continue their respective rehabilitations. While no timeline has been given for their returns, Dunleavy said both players are in a good spot and doing “very light on-court activities” at this point.
“They’re progressing well,” Dunleavy said. “It’s hard to determine exactly when they’ll be back at this stage of the rehab because it really comes down to how you’re doing each day, so I won’t get into those phases right now, but it’s tricky. Forget one, but having two guys that aren’t going to be ready to start the season that are key rotation players, really good players, wings that are such a valuable position in the league.
“We’re in a bind in that regard, but I think we’ve done the best we could at improving the roster to a point where we have some depth and we could hold down the fort until those guys get back. Hopefully when they do get back, it will give us a nice boost.”
In addition to being with the team throughout training camp in Hawaii, Butler recently hosted a players-only multi-day minicamp at his home in San Diego for his Warriors teammates to help the team get ready for the upcoming season.
“They’re a part of our squad, and their energy is going to be key for us even until they get back on the court,” said Curry. “I don’t know how many games will be under our belt before they each come back, and we have a job to do to hopefully make their return relevant and meaningful in the sense that the team that they’re coming back to.”
Butler, who said he added a few extra piercings during his time rehabbing, donned some flashy earrings as he took the mic on media day, while vowing to return to the court better than how he left it.
“I feel great. Rehabbing every day. I’m to a point now where I get to start running a little bit,” he said. “I can dunk a basketball, in case anybody wants to know. Very excited about that. But it’s still a process, but at least I get to play basketball a little bit now, and I know that all the work that I have been putting in, it’s starting to get to basketball.
“I know that I will return still being able to play at a high level, but I want to hoop now. I wanted to hoop two months ago, three months ago. I want to go out there and compete with my guys, with Dray, be Robin again to Steph’s Batman. I know I will be able to do that at an incredibly high level, but I just miss the game. I miss not being around my guys. So any time I get to be around them and laugh, joke, compete in ways that I can’t compete, it’s all a plus for me.”
3. No sleep lost on Steph Curry’s extension
There was no drama this summer when it came to re-signing Curry and keeping the league’s all-time 3-point king in the same uniform he’s worn for the past 17 seasons.
“I’ve lost sleep on a lot of things. That is not one of them,” said Dunleavy. “He’s a guy that’s committed to the organization. He wants to be here. He believes in our ability to put together a great team.”
Curry signed a two-year, $116 million extension on Friday, after what he described as a collaborative effort since he became eligible to sign an extension in late August. Curry ended up taking $10 million less than the maximum he could have signed for in order to provide the team flexibility moving forward.
“Without knowing the answers to the test, it was my best way to study for it, if that makes sense,” said Curry. “Again, it’s about for us to have a chance this season as we get started tomorrow to play basketball and hoop. We all have to do our jobs to win. We all know that, myself included. I’ve got to be healthy and available.
“Yes, I was presented the max. Yes, there was everything on the table and everything that you probably heard is somewhat accurate. For me it was just processing all of that to get to a decision that was right for me and right for the team.”
Curry is in a rare position to play two decades for the same team, something only matched by Kobe Bryant with the Lakers, Dirk Nowitzki with the Mavs, and Udonis Haslem with the Heat. Curry’s connection with the Bay Area was a motivating factor in getting this extension done.
“This is home,” he said. “This is what we’ve built. This is a community that I’ve played in front of my entire career, and being able to finish the story the right way is a big part of what I can control thankfully and hopefully health-wise as well.
“I know the short list of guys that have been able to do it, but reimagining what that looks like with the level that I feel like I can play at down the stretch of my career, and being open to even what this training camp looks like of different ways to approach the game to, sustain it as long as I can.
“There’s a pride of representing the Bay, representing this franchise that when I stepped foot here in ’09 and what we’ve all been able to accomplish – this isn’t just a me thing, this is a we – I want to do right by that. It’s always been an importance for me, and going into this contract decision, that was front of mind, for sure.”
4. Happy to be under the radar, just not too far
The Warriors are the last dynasty that the NBA has seen, winning four titles in an eight-year span from 2015-22. Golden State is the last team to repeat as NBA champs as the league has seen eight different champions in the past eight seasons.
After beginning each season with title expectations for over a decade, the Warriors enter a season without the weight of those expectations as they begin a 2026-27 campaign at less than full strength and with more clear-cut title favorites in the Western Conference.
“Yeah, I don’t mind the fact that everyone is picking us to miss the playoffs. That’s not a bad spot to be in as a team, as a coach,” said Kerr. “For me, what it means is we get to focus on the process. We just get to lock in on what we’re trying to accomplish right from Day 1. Tomorrow morning we’ll have a meeting with the team, and we’ll lay out our expectations, our vision.
“I feel strongly that if we just lock in on the process, the details, we’re much more likely to be able to accomplish what we want to accomplish and put together momentum and build an identity and cut back on our turnovers, win the game in the margins. Those things aren’t going to happen just by talking about them. They’re only going to happen if we have a solid process day after day and develop into that team.
Perhaps the funniest moment of the day was Curry’s reaction to Kerr’s claim that “everyone is picking us to miss the playoffs.”
If the measure of success in the past was championship or bust, then how will the Warriors measure success in 2026-27? Green made it clear that the goal is centered on the process, and the results will take care of themselves.
“I think for us it’s ultimately putting together a great process every single day because if you do that, you give yourself a chance. All anybody ever wants in this league is a chance.
“Your process must be the right way, and I think for us that’s what it is. We never got to an end of the year and won a championship and was, like, ‘Oh, that was great!’ because we won a championship. No, it was great because I enjoyed the journey, and it’s great because we overcame this thing and remember when this happened and we had to do this to get – that’s what makes it great.
“So for us, put together a great process and then you get to the end, and you let the cards fall where they may. I hate to be cliche, but in 2022 nobody walked into that season like, ‘Hey, here’s the beginning of a championship year.’ Our process was great, which then allowed us to grow over the season and become a championship team.
5. Excitement, expectations for rookie Yaxel Lendeborg
From his general manager, to his head coach and his new teammates, rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg earned universal praise for his attitude, work ethic, and the versatility of his game as he looks to inject new life into the Warriors.
“He just does everything really well,” said Kerr. “He’s a really good passer, but he has a good feel for the game. You know, he asked me a couple of months ago, ‘how can I earn the respect of the veterans?’ I’m, like, ‘well, that question alone is a good start.’ The fact that he’s thinking that way.”
One of those veterans is Michigan State alum Green, who couldn’t help but bring up the rivalry with Michigan’s Lendeborg, when discussing the rookie.
“When he was at that bum school, I didn’t care to watch him,” said Green. “Playing against Michigan State, I actually hope you miss every shot. So I’m not really watching from a standpoint of, like, ‘Yo, how good is he?’ I’m watching and hoping he fails. That changed now obviously, and he is really good. I actually hate to say it because that means he was really good last year at Michigan. Who wants that, right? But I was – man, I was very, very, very impressed.”
The Warriors got a taste of what the Curry, Green and Lendeborg trio could look like at Butler’s minicamp in San Diego. There was one particular play that had everyone excited for what’s to come this season.
“We had a very nice play. It looked like we had been playing together for a long time,” said Green. “An out-of-bounds play, somebody threw me the ball. Steph back-picked it. [Yaxel] didn’t know he should go off. He went off, boom, dunk. That’s going to happen a lot.”
“It was an out-of-bounds play,” Lendeborg said. “It happened – I had a wide-open dunk. They were both like, ‘That’s all year! All year!’ Super loud and aggressive. Like, ‘Oh, wow, okay.’ If it’s going to be like that, then it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Lendeborg’s combination of size, skill, versatility and IQ should make him a seamless fit next to Golden State’s veterans, whether that is in a starting role or coming off the bench — something Kerr will decide in training camp.
“Whenever you bring in younger guys, they all just want to get busy and get to it right away scoring and doing all of these things, and he can do that at a high level, but all the questions that he asks, it’s about how I can help to win, and that’s what you get whenever you get a guy that’s played in college a couple of years. They know what it takes to win.”
Of course, Lendeborg proved he could win by leading Michigan to the NCAA title in April. Horford, who won two NCAA championships at Florida, knows that Lendeborg’s experience on the biggest collegiate stage will prepare him for the NBA.
“You can’t replicate in the NBA a Sweet 16, an Elite 8 game, those settings, the meaning of it, the pressure behind it,” said Horford. “I feel like he’s going to be able to come in and he’s going to be able to handle a lot of the things that are going to be thrown at him, and I just think that experience is just very valuable.”
