{"id":352960,"date":"2025-10-20T02:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T02:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/352960\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T02:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T02:53:10","slug":"warriors-starters-for-season-opener-vs-lakers-still-unknown-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/352960\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors\u2019 starters for season opener vs. Lakers still unknown \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Moses Moody<\/a> officially is out for the Warriors\u2019 regular season opener Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers while still rehabbing a strained calf<\/a>, coach Steve Kerr announced Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moody did not practice Sunday. He went through individual work on the court and in the weight room, but has not scrimmaged since missing the Warriors\u2019 final three preseason games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler<\/a> and Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, both coming back from ankle issues, scrimmaged Sunday and everything went well for them physically. The two forwards will be listed as questionable for the season opener with the expectation being they\u2019ll be able to play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Losing Moody for at least the first game of the season already throws a wrench in Kerr\u2019s plans<\/a> for his starting lineup and how he\u2019ll use different combinations. Moody started both preseason games he played in and averaged 14.5 points on 52.4 percent shooting and was 7 of 12 (58.3 percent) on 3-pointers. The Jimmy Butler trade last season cemented Moody into a role of being a go-to on-ball defender who can hit open threes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moody\u2019s versatility as someone who can play up as a forward in smaller lineups or down as a shooting guard in bigger lineups proved key down the stretch last season. And it also has Kerr trying to fill a missing piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly have not decided yet who\u2019s going to start on Tuesday,\u201d Kerr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which prompted the question: Do you know who will\u00a0start\u00a0on Tuesday?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sprinkling in some sarcasm, Kerr rattled off the obvious choices of Steph Curry<\/a>, Draymond Green<\/a> and Butler, assuming he\u2019s healthy enough. He then made it clear who at least the fourth person will be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Moses out, that\u2019s kind of the question,\u201d Kerr said. \u201c[Brandin Podziemski] will be out there. BP will be out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerr mentioned veteran center Al Horford<\/a> as an option, as well as Kuminga, but he could go a number of ways. The Warriors don\u2019t want to play Horford, 39 years old, more than 20 to 25 minutes per game, making it tricky to decide if he\u2019s better served as a starter or coming off the bench. If he starts and the Warriors want to close games, that means long lulls on the bench in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have to think about is, what does that do to the rotation and what does that mean coming off the bench,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cHonestly, we have not decided yet and we\u2019ve got to talk to guys as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The player who will be most affected by the fifth spot is Green. Starting Horford would slot Green into his more natural position of power forward. But if Kerr opts to go smaller and start Kuminga, Green would continue rising above as a small-ball center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None of this is new to Green, who joked that if he has to play the five \u201cI\u2019m going to ask for a trade.\u201d The 6-foot-6 defensive genius has probably played more center than Kerr would have liked over the years, but he\u2019s also a main piece of the modern NBA\u2019s revolution. The deciding factor going into Green\u2019s 14th season is the same that it\u2019s always been for someone so decorated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s best for the team? What is going to help the Warriors win? And what will put them on the path to contending for another championship?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve teetered with it my whole career. Sometimes at the five, sometimes at the four,\u201d Green said. \u201cI think you all know me. Whatever helps this team, whatever puts us in the best position to win, that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do. I train to prepare myself for whatever\u2019s to come. Playing the five isn\u2019t always about the size, it\u2019s about the size of the heart and I think my heart is as big \u2013 if not bigger \u2013 than anyone\u2019s in the league. I always trust in that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my brain helps me get by quite a bit. I can outthink some guys. I just use the tools that I have. But I\u2019m not putting no huge emphasis on whether I play the four or the five. In life we all have ideally what we would like. I have ideally what I think it would look like. But I also know that I play a team sport and in playing a team sport, what may be best for you personally or what you think is best, if that\u2019s not best for the team then you\u2019re being selfish. And I take pride in not being selfish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo whatever that looks like, wherever I can help \u2026 if that\u2019s like, \u2018Oh man, you sliding to the five is going to help this lineup, that\u2019s going to help this rotation,\u2019 then great. If it\u2019s sliding to the four, great. Ultimately, Steve proved in Year 1 that he knows how to do these things, so I\u2019m not going to be the idiot to sit here and question him. I\u2019ll move on in my life and get ready for whatever\u2019s ahead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lakers head coach JJ Redick is expected to use Gabe Vincent, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton as his starting five against the Warriors. LeBron James remains out because of sciatica.<\/p>\n

Who Kerr slots in next to Curry, Podziemski, Butler and Green is to be determined, and always, Draymond is ready for however the cards are shuffled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Moses Moody officially is out for the Warriors\u2019 regular season opener Tuesday night against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,200,313,932,863,1079],"class_list":{"0":"post-352960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-draymond-green","10":"tag-jimmy-butler","11":"tag-steph-curry","12":"tag-steve-kerr","13":"tag-warriors-analysis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115404237080172494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}