The Golden State Warriors have a thing for complicating the development of young players. First it was Jonathan Kuminga, who is now a member of the Atlanta Hawks, and now it appears to be Brandin Podziemski, who is heading down the same path as Kuminga; one filled with flashes of potential, but also moments of frustration and unclear expectations from the team.
In his third season, Podziemski’s development has been disappointing. There’s no way around that. He was thrilling as a rookie, up-and-down as a sophomore, and instead of breaking out in year three, he still possesses all the same questions and shortcomings that plagued him in the first two years.
Early on, those are easy to ignore. But when they keep popping up a few years in, they become bigger red flags. Podziemski’s focus, consistency, and feel for the game (or lack of) have frustrated Warriors fans all year, and those remaining evident without a big increase in production (his stats are essentially the same across the board from last year) will make it tough to justify Podziemski being a central part of this team’s future.
What is Brandin Podziemski’s future with this franchise?
The Warriors have already picked up Podziemski’s club option for next year, so he’s a Warrior for at least one more year. But after that, he will be a restricted free agent, and it’s not hard to envision another Jonathan Kuminga situation unfolding for the Warriors.
But this time around, I think it’s going to feel a little bleaker. Because after next season, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler will all be free agents, too. With all due respect to Podziemski, those three guys — despite being considerably older — all take priority from the front office.
And if none of them come back for the 2027-28 season, that means the Warriors are fully embracing a new era — but if Podziemski doesn’t develop in any meaningful way, then the “new era” would look pretty depressing. In other words, the Warriors are relying more on Podz’ development than it may seem, and what we’ve seen this season can’t earnestly be described as development.
Is that Podziemski’s fault, the team’s fault, or a little bit of both? I really don’t know the answer to that. The Warriors surely aren’t above reproach in the Kuminga conundrum, so it’s hard to think they’re without blame in this situation, too, as the parallels start to pile up.
At the same time, Podziemski is getting plenty of chances on the court — he’s just not taking advantage of them. So maybe everyone is to blame. If Podziemski breaks out next year, then crisis averted, I suppose. But Warriors fans don’t have supreme confidence that breakout is coming.