SAN FRANCISCO: The Golden State Warriors had a busy day on Monday, starting the morning in the Bay Area for media day and later boarding a flight in the afternoon to Hawaii for training camp that opens on Tuesday.
The Warriors already know they are starting the season shorthanded without Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, who are recovering from knee injuries suffered last season.
But the unexpected news of the day was Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. announcing that Kristaps Porzingis is “out indefinitely with a health issue.” The Warriors resigned Porzingis this offseason after trading for him last season. Dunleavy added that he was informed of this issue on Sunday.
With Porziņģis sidelined, more responsibility will fall on Al Horford, Draymond Green, and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg in the Warriors’ front court.
Jimmy Butler, who is recovering from a torn ACL, and Moses Moody, who is recovering from a torn left patellar tendon, are both expected to make the trip to Hawaii for training camp per Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy stated that both players are currently in a good position and engaging in “very light on-court activities,” although no timeline for their return has been provided.
“They’re progressing well,” Dunleavy said. “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.”
“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 recently hosted a players only mini-camp at his home in San Diego for his Warriors teammates to help the team get ready for the upcoming season.
“I feel great. Rehabbing every day. I’m to a point now where I get to start running a little bit,” Butler 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.” Butler said.
Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg is also turning heads in the facility for his attitude, work ethic, and the versatility of his game as he looks to inject some youth and new life into the aging Warriors.
Lendeborg is coming off a national championship-winning season with the University of Michigan. Lendeborg’s high basketball IQ, size, skillset, and versatility make him a seamless fit with Golden State’s veteran core.
The Warriors got a brief look at what Lendeborg can do next to Steph and Draymond on the floor during Jimmy Butler’s mini-camp in San Diego.
“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.”
The biggest news of the day came from the weekend when Stephen Curry signed a 2-year $116 million extension. Curry ended up taking $10 million less to provide some flexibility on the books for the front office next summer. This puts Curry now in the rare position of playing two decades for the same franchise, a feat that has only been matched by Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, and Udonis Haslem.
“This is home,” Curry 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.” Curry said.
Curry says he’s confident that he has done what he can to start the season well and believes his knee is “stronger” heading into the new season with a plan in place after missing 30+ games due to a knee injury.
“Knee is feeling great, ready to go,” Curry said. “No issues at all. There is a management element of it for sure where you just have to be mindful of everything that you’re doing in practice, games, preparation. We haven’t talked about the game schedule yet or anything like that where I’m kind of getting too far ahead of myself. But for training camp and the preseason schedule and getting myself into shape and ready to go, there’s no limitations at all.”
Steph had the funniest moment of the day at the end of his media day press conference when asked about head coach Steve Kerr’s claim that “everyone is picking us to miss the playoffs.”
After beginning each season for the past decade with championship expectations, this year they enter without the weight of those expectations. Draymond Green emphasized his focus on the season’s process.
“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.” Green said.
“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.” Green said.
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