Warriors Player Grades Entering January of 2025-26 Season

Lots has changed since my last Golden State Warriors report card grades in late November.

Draymond Green has been in a huge offensive slump, and Jonathan Kuminga isn't even in the rotation anymore.

Meanwhile, De'Anthony Melton has since made his return to the court and been quite impactful, and Pat Spencer has established himself as a legitimate rotation piece.

We're basing the grades on their totality of work this season. The grades are based partially on expectations instead of them solely being based on who has played the best. Note that Seth Curry is not graded because he's appeared in just two games.

Jimmy Butler: A-
Previous Grade: A-

A segment of the Warriors fanbase continues to harp on Butler's scoring average, which isn't even bad at 19.7 points per game, but for a player making $54.1 million, ideally it would be a bit higher.

Now for the positives, Butler is scoring efficiently (51.6/41.7/86.0 shooting splits), taking care of the ball (1.6 turnovers per game) and lifting non-Steph lineups as well as any Warrior has since the dynasty began.

The only thing preventing him for a better grade is passiveness in clutch games. He's scored just 23 points in 51 clutch minutes this season, per NBA.com.

Will Richard: A-
Previous Grade: B+

Since the last update, Will Richard has had the following:

- 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting in a three-point win
- Games with plus/minuses of plus-36, plus-29 and plus-22
- A game with seven rebounds and five steals

The only thing preventing him from a higher grade is his net rating, which is minus-1.8, per Cleaning the Glass.

Pat Spencer: A-
Previous Grade: B-

Spencer's four-game stretch in early December is what dreams are made of. Since then, it's been a more typical ride for a backup point guard.

Still, he's a two-way player who has been giving more impactful contributions than most of Golden State's bench. He's earned this grade.

Stephen Curry: B+
Previous Grade: B+

Curry is having one of the best seasons for a 37-year-old in NBA history, but my expectations for him were that high to begin with, so he'll have to raise his level of play a bit more to get to an A- or better.

That might sound harsh, but he's now a minus-0.3 in net rating. Even though that's probably more of an indictment on his supporting cast than him, finding a way to be even more impactful is the key for him moving forward.

De'Anthony Melton: B
Previous Grade: Hadn't Played Yet This Season

Melton has a team-best plus-16.1 net rating, once again proving his value as a secondary ball-handler and defensive stopper.

With that said, he's shooting 32.4 percent from the floor and 15.2 percent from three.

For his grade to rise, he just needs his scoring to catch up to the rest of his game.

Brandin Podziemski: B-
Previous Grade: B

Podz has been better offensively over the last couple of weeks, but I'm dropping his grade just a bit because his net rating has fallen to 0 for the season.

Quinten Post: B-
Previous Grade: B+

Post is shooting just 33.6 percent from three, which is down from his 40.8 rate as a rookie.

His defense has held strong for the last month, but he's stuck with a B- until the offense improves.

Moses Moody: B-
Previous Grade: A-

Moody has made just 30.9 percent of his threes since the last update, and he's scored five points or fewer in four of his last six games.

He's been playing below his standards for weeks, but I'm keeping his grade at a B- to give him credit for a very strong first month of the season.

Gui Santos: C+
Previous Grade: C-

Santos is a plus-44 in the last nine games. Now if he can get his offense (41.9 FG%, 30.8 3PT%) to match his activity level, he'll be rising even more.

Trayce Jackson-Davis: C+
Previous Grade: C-

Jackson-Davis is coming off the two best games of his season, with 10 points and five rebounds against Dallas and 11 points and six rebounds against Brooklyn.

The Warriors have to decide by Jan. 10 if they are guaranteeing the rest of salary this season. He's giving them every reason to do so.

Gary Payton II: C
Previous Grade: C-

Since the last update, Payton has had four games with five-plus assists, one game with three steals, one game with three blocks, two games with eight-plus rebounds, and three games with 10-plus points.

His ability to impact the game in so many ways is why he continues to get minutes.

Draymond Green: C-
Previous Grade: B+

Over Golden State's last 15 games, Draymond Green is a minus-56. No other Warrior is worse than a minus-16.

That about sums up how bad this stretch has been for Green.

On the bright side, Green has played better over the last three games. He has 35 points, 13 assists and six turnovers in that stretch. That's the version of Green the Warriors need.

Jonathan Kuminga: D+
Previous Grade: B-

Kuminga is eligible to be traded on Jan. 15, and the fact that he's getting healthy DNPs suggests the Warriors are not planning to play him to ensure he'll be healthy when they can trade him.

In 18 games, Kuminga has been a minus-10 or worse six times.

Al Horford: D+
Previous Grade: D

Horford has played in just three games since the last update, and he gets a minor bump up for looking better in those games.

There's a good chance he rises significantly in the next grades update a month from now.

Buddy Hield: D
Previous Grade: D

Hield has the worst net rating on the team, and he's shooting a career-low 32.3 percent from three.