{"id":736291,"date":"2026-05-16T23:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736291\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T23:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:39:16","slug":"warriors-want-to-avoid-another-jonathan-kuminga-situation-with-brandin-podziemski-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736291\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors Want To Avoid Another Jonathan Kuminga Situation With Brandin Podziemski"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> reportedly want to avoid another complicated Jonathan Kuminga<\/a> contract situation, and that puts Brandin Podziemski<\/a> at the center of one of the franchise\u2019s biggest offseason priorities.<\/p>\n

According to Danny Emerman of The San Francisco Standard<\/a>, Podziemski is now eligible for a rookie extension, and Golden State would prefer to secure a long-term deal before allowing the situation to drag into restricted free agency next summer.<\/p>\n

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The Warriors already experienced how messy those negotiations can become with Jonathan Kuminga. Tension around role, value, and long-term money reportedly complicated talks last offseason, and Golden State does not appear interested in repeating that process with another young core piece.<\/p>\n

Podziemski has rapidly become one of the franchise\u2019s most important young players.<\/p>\n

The second-year guard played in all 82 regular-season games plus both Play-In Tournament games, making him one of only 18 players in the NBA to appear in every game last season. After the All-Star break, he elevated his game significantly, averaging 17.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists while becoming a much larger offensive presence.<\/p>\n

He also finished the season strongly despite the Warriors\u2019 collapsing late. Golden State finished just 37-45 before being eliminated by the Phoenix Suns<\/a> in the Play-In Tournament after a disappointing 10th-place finish in the Western Conference standings. Injuries played a major role in the collapse, especially with both Jimmy Butler<\/a> and Moses Moody<\/a> expected to miss most or all of next season because of long-term injuries.<\/p>\n

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That leaves Podziemski as one of the few dependable young building blocks moving forward. A potential extension could land somewhere between $17 million and $23 million annually, with many around the league believing $25 million per season should be the absolute ceiling for Golden State.<\/p>\n

The Warriors clearly value him highly.<\/p>\n

Podziemski acknowledged some of the criticism<\/a> he faced earlier in the season after comments about wanting to become better than Stephen Curry went viral<\/a>. But he backed up some of that confidence late in the year with improved scoring, stronger decision-making, and multiple breakout performances, including his first career 30-point game.<\/p>\n

Golden State now faces one of the most important offseasons of the Stephen Curry<\/a> era.<\/p>\n

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Steve Kerr already signed a two-year extension<\/a> after briefly hinting at retirement following the Warriors\u2019 disappointing season. The franchise is also expected to continue extension talks with Draymond Green<\/a>, although reports suggest the organization would only consider a long-term deal under certain financial conditions.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Curry is also expected to begin extension discussions soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On top of all that, the Warriors continue getting linked to major superstar pursuits. Rumors involving Joel Embiid<\/a>, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James<\/a>, and even Giannis Antetokounmpo continue<\/a> surfacing around the franchise.<\/p>\n

Yet despite all the superstar speculation, Podziemski might quietly be one of the Warriors\u2019 most important long-term decisions.<\/p>\n

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Golden State still plans to keep the No. 11 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft<\/a>, and the organization clearly wants to stay competitive instead of rebuilding<\/a>. That makes affordable young talent critical moving forward, especially with aging stars and massive contracts already on the roster.<\/p>\n

If the Warriors truly believe Podziemski is part of the next era alongside Curry, getting an extension done early could prevent another stressful contract saga from developing next summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Warriors reportedly want to avoid another complicated Jonathan Kuminga contract situation, and that puts Brandin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,860,200,123,479,164,4025,4024,313,936,867,529,185,1104,6,472,573,81512,255],"class_list":{"0":"post-736291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brandin-podziemski","10":"tag-draymond-green","11":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","12":"tag-golden-state","13":"tag-golden-state-warriors","14":"tag-goldenstate","15":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","16":"tag-jimmy-butler","17":"tag-joel-embiid","18":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","19":"tag-kawhi-leonard","20":"tag-lebron-james","21":"tag-moses-moody","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-phoenix-suns","24":"tag-stephen-curry","25":"tag-the-san-francisco-standard","26":"tag-warriors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116586896601620004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736291","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=736291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}