SAN FRANCISCO – The only path to NBA championship contention for the Warriors is Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green all playing at a star level. The Warriors also won’t even make it to that part of the calendar if those three are their only stars on a nightly basis.
Four different Warriors scored at least 20 points Monday night in their 131-118 win against the Memphis Grizzlies at Chase Center. None of them were Curry on the first night of a back-to-back to begin a four-game week, which is how the Warriors can not only win the week, but withstand the grind of an 82-game season for a team led by a trio of future Hall of Famers who all are on the other side of 35 years old.
Monday night’s win was only the sixth time in Curry’s 17 seasons with the Warriors where the team had four players reach 20 or more points and he wasn’t one of them.
“That’s how you get through a regular season,” Curry said. “Just the unpredictability, but the confidence that everybody can step up.”
It’s not like Curry disappointed either. He scored a highly efficient 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting, was 4 of 9 on threes and made his two free throws. Curry also added four rebounds, three assists and his plus-17 in 30 minutes was tied for the second-best plus/minus behind only Green’s plus-18. Butler did reach the 20-point mark, scoring exactly 20 points on just eight shots.
But the other three were from two 23-year-olds and a 22-year-old. Jonathan Kuminga scored a game-high 25 points, followed by 23 from Brandin Podziemski and 20 off the bench for Moses Moody.
Nobody needed a breakout game more than Podziemski.
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The first three games of the 2025-26 NBA season were a far cry from what the Warriors had seen out of Podziemski throughout training camp. Coach Steve Kerr in his pregame press conference alluded to Podziemski pressing to start the season instead of letting the game come to him. Podziemski wants to be great. Forcing perfection on every rep instead often can lead to opposite results.
In the first minute of Monday’s win, however, Podziemski was equal parts aggressive and in the flow of both sides, exuding confidence as a young player who had turned the page from his struggles in the first week of the season.
“Well, it helped that he knocked down the first shot of the game,” Kerr said. “But he just looked like the guy we saw all training camp and all last year, or the second half of last year when he got going. Yeah, it was a great night for Brandin.”
As if it were intentional, the first shot of the game didn’t come from Curry, Butler or even Kuminga. Standing in the left corner, Podziemski slid to the wing as Curry went from screening Jaylen Wells to sealing off Ja Morant to give his teammate even space behind the 3-point line. Podziemski came into the game shooting slightly above 30 percent from three, yet let it go like he was the one with Curry across the back of jersey. The ball swished through the net and assistant coach Terry Stotts proudly nudged Kerr on the knee twice.
Sometimes all it takes is that first shot to go down for a player to get his mojo back. Podziemski in the first three games of the season scored a total of 26 points, three fewer than he dropped Monday on Memphis. He had made four threes on the season, and then went 5 of 7 from downtown in his best game of the young season. Podziemski also only had three assists while turning the ball over four times on the season, and then in the first quarter alone dished four assists without a turnover, finishing with six assists and no turnovers.
This was the sigh of relief Podziemski had been looking for. And it also was a continuation of Kuminga’s growth.
Kuminga didn’t merely score 25 points. He also soared for 10 rebounds – seven on defense and three on offense. Through four games, Kuminga now is averaging 18 points and eight rebounds per game, shooting 58.1 percent from the field (25 of 43) and 80 percent on free throws (16 of 20).
“JK has been fantastic. It just feels like he has found his spot with this group, playing with Jimmy and Dray on the frontline,” Kerr said. “We just feel like the way he’s rebounding, the way he’s attacking the rim, that’s what makes him special. His athleticism, his force – when he’s playing to that talent, to that ability, it changes our team. It changes his game. He’s been great.”
The final of the Young Three is the one that often feels as old as Curry, Butler and Green for his wisdom and the way he goes about his business. Moody couldn’t find his shot in his first game back from a calf strain in the Warriors’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He did Monday, especially in the third quarter where the Warriors went from having a four-point lead at halftime to being up by 16 going into the fourth quarter.
Moody was a minus-12 in the first half, making his only shot, a three from the right wing. With his legs back under him, Moody then made three 3-pointers in the third quarter and another in the fourth. The Warriors’ bench scored 14 points in the third quarter, and Moody scored 12 of them.
“There will be games when all the uncs are out and they’ll have to step up. You want to be able to fill that gas tank as well,” Curry said. “It is huge.”
History was made on the Warriors’ home court. Monday’s win was the first time Kuminga, Podziemski and Moody all scored 20 or more points in the same game. It’s only one game, and the Warriors still are operating under one timeline.
For that timeline to extend into late April, May and June, this is the blueprint where those three can make the Olden State Warriors golden again.