Sports
Power Ranking Warriors' Roster Entering 2023-24 NBA Season – Bleacher Report
The Golden State Warriors haven’t officially closed the books on the 2023 NBA offseason, but they have more or less made the moves they’re going to make.
The Dubs could add a 14th player to their roster or let a training-camp battle decide that spot, but barring injuries, whoever gets that job is unlikely to crack the regular rotation.
So, what does this Golden State roster actually have? To answer that inquiry, we’ll power rank the 13 players with NBA contracts based on talent, potential production and overall importance to the team.
13. Trayce Jackson-Davis
Jackson-Davis has enough bounce and awareness to potentially force his way into the rotation, but he’ll still bring up the rear as a rookie second-rounder.
12. Brandin Podziemski
While Podziemski’s shooting and passing seem perfectly built for this roster, he faces some real physical challenges as he enters the league. He isn’t particularly long, athletic or explosive, and he’s had a hard time handling both strength and speed on the defensive end.
11. Cory Joseph
Joseph is essentially filling a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency role as the third point guard, but with Stephen Curry and Chris Paul both on the wrong side of 35, there will be nights when the Warriors need Joseph. On those nights, he’ll help with tenacious defense and smart decision-making, though his limited scoring threat could shrink the offensive end.
10. Moses Moody
Moody hasn’t exactly made the immediate impact many expected to see when he arrived as the No. 14 pick in 2021, but he’s had high-level flashes of three-and-D play.
9. Dario Šarić
This might be underselling what Šarić can do, since he seems like such a natural fit in this offense. He is, essentially, a stretch big but with better handling and passing than the label implies.
8. Gary Payton II
Payton is a tireless defender who has carved an offensive niche as a play-finisher. He doesn’t take many threes, but he’s connecting on a lot of what he attempts (50 percent last season), and he has the bounce to put anyone standing between him and the basket on a poster.
7. Jonathan Kuminga
Kuminga’s lack of playing time to this point (career 18.8 minutes per game) speaks to the high difficulty level of Golden State’s attempt to toe two different time lines. The Warriors need him to fill a relatively minor role, but he’ll drop enough hints of what he could become to make you wish this club would let him spread his wings.
6. Chris Paul
With his 38th birthday behind him, Paul is doing what he can to fend off any age-related decline. He has never been less threatening as a scorer (career-low 13.9 points last season), but he has held up as an outside shooter (37.5 percent) and genius-level decision-maker (8.9 assists against 1.9 turnovers).
5. Kevon Looney
No matter what changes in Golden State, Looney remains a constant source of active rebounding, solid screen-setting and stout defending. He’s also a slick scorer around the rim despite not having a lot of vertical lift.
4. Klay Thompson
Age and injuries have likely done permanent damage to Thompson’s defense, but on the offensive end, he isn’t much different than his All-Star days. In fact, this past season he bettered his career averages in scoring (21.9 points per game) and true shooting (57.6 percent, per Basketball-Reference).
3. Andrew Wiggins
Once viewed as perhaps a source of empty stats, Wiggins has morphed into an indispensable piece of a championship-hopeful team. He made that clear even in an absence-filled 2022-23 season, during which the Dubs fared 5.0 points better per 100 possessions with him than without.
2. Draymond Green
You wouldn’t think a player with Green’s shooting deficiencies could fill such a vital role in a win-now team’s offense. You also wouldn’t expect someone whose temper can boil over to be the emotional leader of an NBA dynasty. But he has been defying odds throughout his career, and the Dubs have clearly (and correctly) determined they wouldn’t be the same without his defense, dime-dropping and competitive fire.
1. Stephen Curry
This was the easiest pick of the bunch. Wine rarely ages as well as Curry has. He just spent his age-34 season making nightly contributions of 29.4 points (on 49.3/42.7/91.5 shooting), 6.3 assists and 6.1 rebounds. If he stays healthy and Golden State climbs near the top of the Western Conference, he is a legitimate MVP threat.
