Warriors Player Grades After 1st Month of 2025-26 Season

It's been three weeks since I graded Golden State Warriors players. In that time, the Warriors have responded to a mini-crisis with a three-game winning streak and followed it with a three-game losing streak. Overall, they've gone 5-6 since the last update.

So it's time for a new grade. We're basing the grades on their totality of work, including the first seven games. It's important to note that the grades are based partially on expectations instead of them solely being based on who has played the best.

Spoiler alert: More grades have gone down than up, as many Warriors have struggled in the last three weeks.

Moses Moody: A-
Previous grade: C+

Moody is only Warriors player to rise more than a full letter grade in the last three weeks, making him the biggest winner of this exercise.

Moody's offense has not been consistent, but his highs have been surprisingly good (five games with five-plus threes, including one game with eight threes).

Meanwhile, his defense has been steady, which is why he has the fourth-best net rating on the team, per Cleaning the Glass. He leads the team in deflections, and opponents shoot about 2 percent worse than expected when he's guarding them, per NBA.com.

Going into this season, it wasn't clear who would emerge as Golden State's best role player, but now it's obviously Moody. He's a true three-and-D wing who should start and close the majority of the rest of the games.

Jimmy Butler: A-
Previous grade: A-

One of the reasons the Warriors brought in Butler was to fix the non-Curry minutes. Those minutes continue to be ugly offensively, yet still the Warriors are plus-1.0 with Butler on and Curry off, which is a win.

Butler has been exactly as advertised this season, averaging 20.1 points, scoring efficiently (51.9 percent from the floor), taking care of the ball (4.8 assists to 1.6 turnovers) and overall playing winning basketball (plus 14.0 net rating).

Stephen Curry: B+
Previous grade: C+

Curry is carrying the offense like few can, as shown by him having the third-best offensive EPM in the league.

But he's just sixth on the team in net rating, and he made two big defensive mistakes down the stretch against Portland on Friday that led to the loss. The Warriors need him locked in on both ends to have a sustained stretch of winning.

Draymond Green: B+
Previous grade: B+

Green leads the team in net rating (plus-21.3), so there's an argument he should get a better grade. Just about every defensive stat supports the conclusion that he's the best defensive player on the team by far, and even after a shooting slump, he's making a respectable 35.7 percent of his threes.

The thing holding him back from an A- is his turnover rate. He's averaging a career-high 4.0 turnovers per 36 minutes. Overall, the Warriors are 29th in turnover rate, and fair or not, it feels like it's up to Green to set the tone here or else this will be the team's Achilles' heel.

Quinten Post: B+
Previous grade: A+

Post's three-point percentage is down to 34.4, which is grounds for an even bigger fall. But he's still second on the team in net rating (plus-14.7), which is surprisingly spearheaded by his defense.

With Al Horford out for the next three games at least, the Warriors will rely more on Post. He's played under 13 minutes in four of his past six games. We'll see how he responds to a bigger workload.

Will Richard: B+
Previous grade: A

The zoomed-out look on Richard is still fantastic. The 56th pick shouldn't be starting seven of his first 16 games and shooting 55.4 percent overall.

But the -17.7 net rating is one of the worst on the team, and his defense has been spotty at times. You'd expect that from a rookie, but it's hurting the Warriors nonetheless.

Brandin Podziemski: B
Previous grade: B+

Podz's net rating is great, and he's been steady on both ends, so there's not much to dislike here.

But considering it's his third year—a time when many players have a leap—Podz's lack of improvement from last season is disappointing.

Jonathan Kuminga: B-
Previous grade: A+

In six games after the first set of grades was published, Kuminga went 2-of-14 from three with 14 assists and 18 turnovers.

It was a nightmare stretch, but it doesn't erase how good he was in the team's first seven games. In any case, the Warriors miss him, as they simply don't have much athleticism and paint scoring when Kuminga is not playing. He continues to be out with knee tendonitis.

Pat Spencer: B-
Previous grade: Ungraded due to lack of minutes

Spencer had met expectations through his first nine games, but then he vastly exceeded them in his last game against the Miami Heat. Spencer had 11 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and two steals, helping the short-handed Warriors put up quite a fight.

Gary Payton II: C-
Previous grade: C-

The Warriors desperately need players other than Post and Podz to consistently play well off the bench. Payton hasn't had a good season, but his last two games (13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, two blocks) suggest he's coming around.

Gui Santos: C-
Previous grade: B

Santos has a minus-18.1 net rating in 61 minutes. Expect him to play a lot in the next week with Horford and Kuminga out, as the Warriors simply need more frontcourt minutes.

Trayce Jackson-Davis: C-
Previous grade: Ungraded due to lack of minutes

Jackson-Davis has a team-worst -23.4 net rating in 99 minutes. He'll play more with Horford out for at least the next week. The Warriors need his rebounding after they got destroyed 52-32 on the glass against Portland.

Buddy Hield: D
Previous grade: D+

Hield is averaging career lows in points (6.9), field-goal percentage (40.5) and three-point percentage (30.1). Perhaps his offensive struggles have impacted his defense, which has been worse than it was last year.

Al Horford: D
Previous grade: D+

Horford has been the team's biggest disappointment, averaging career lows in points (5.8) and field-goal percentage (34.3). He's out for at least the next three games with right sciatic nerve irritation. The Warriors need him healthy, as they simply don't have the big man depth to survive a long-term Horford injury.