Steve Kerr Confirms Warriors' Starting Spot Battle That Has No Easy Answer

Steve Kerr said on Wednesday that the Golden State Warriors have just two players locked into starting roles in Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

That means training camp and preseason have three starting role battles.

The players in contention for those three spots are likely limited to Brandin Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton, Gui Santos, Yaxel Lendeborg, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford.

Porzingis' health issue makes the center starting spot particularly murky. The Warriors could go small with Green at center, or they could go with Horford. Or Porzingis could start if he's ready for opening night.

If Horford or Porzingis starts, then Green will start at power forward, which leaves the small forward spot to Santos or Lendeborg.

As for the shooting guard spot, it will almost certainly be a battle between just Podziemski and Melton.

Why the SG Battle Is Not a Simple Decision

Usually, starting spots are decided by politics as much as talent. What I mean is a team will start the player they've invested more in when it comes to draft capital, developmental opportunity, money, etc.

That's the main argument for why Podz should start.

Aside from that, Podz is a better shooter and rebounder than Melton.

But Melton is the better on-ball defender, and Curry has historically been paired with a great on-ball defender so he isn't having to expend as much energy on defense.

The Curry-Melton tandem produced a plus-9.7 net rating last year when Podz was off the court, per Cleaning the Glass.

The Curry-Podz duo produced a plus-5.1 net rating when Melton was off the court.

There's no obvious wrong answer here, but another thing Kerr has to think about is how the Warriors will survive in the non-Curry minutes.

Podz has more offensive firepower than Melton, which will boost bench units.

With that said, Curry needs to play with shooting threats as well. The Warriors need to prioritize putting him in advantageous situations. He can't be expected to lift lineups with three or four mediocre shooters anymore.

Melton is coming off a season in which he made just 29.4 percent of his threes. But his career percentage is 35.8 percent. Perhaps the fact that he had to get offseason surgery on both thumbs was the reason he struggled so much last year.

I expect Kerr to choose Podz, who started the last 24 games of the 2025-26 regular season and averaged 17.8 points per game on 38.0 percent from three. The Warriors need Podz to sustain that type of play for the long haul, and having him come off the bench would arguably be sending him the wrong message.

Alternative Starting Idea

To be clear, I don't think the Warriors will consider a three-guard starting lineup. They finally have positional size with Lendeborg joining Santos and Green at the forward spots. It would be surprising to not see how they perform with at least two of them starting.

However, last year's lineup data suggests that the Warriors should consider starting Curry, Podz and Melton.

Lineups with those three put up an outstanding plus-17.7 net rating in 199 possessions.

Playing that small might not be what Frank Vogel has in mind for the team's defense, but one would think a three-guard lineup would fit a five-out offense well.

Don't be surprised if Kerr experiments with playing all three, though likely not to start games.

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