Season-defining questions for Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Warriors' key figures

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr questions a call during a preseason game against the Sacramento Kings in the second half at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, October 10, 2026. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle) Kevon Looney got married in July. The guest list was massive. He and wife Mariah sent out invites to every name Looney came across in a decade with the Golden State Warriors, because they couldn't leave anyone out. But this was smack-dab in the middle of NBA Summer League. Looney figured many wouldn't be able to make it.Many did. Steve Kerr and Kirk Lacob showed up. So did Andre Iguodala, and Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole, and Damion Lee. So did Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody. They gathered, for photos.Those photos are a memory a different time, and the Warriors are at war with time itself after an uninspiring 37-45 record last season. Memories can't bring back a dynasty. "I feel like they're gonna have a different chip on their shoulder, not making the playoffs," Looney told the Chronicle Oct. 6, before a Warriors-Lakers preseason game. "Every year that – we missed the playoffs a couple times when I was there, and every time we didn't, we always responded next year with a different fire."How will Golden State respond now? The outlook is as bleak as it's been since before Looney (now a Laker) knew the organization. The Warriors are down three starters – Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis, Moses Moody – and relying heavily on a 38-year-old Stephen Curry, 36-year-old Draymond Green and 24-year-old rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. The path forward rests on internal, systematic changes from Kerr, skilled recommendations from Golden State's medical team, and a lot of hope."I've always believed if you really put together a good process, you build momentum, you're more likely to get some breaks going your way," Kerr said on September 28. "So the vision for this year is to clean that stuff up and build some momentum, and then we get those guys back."Golden State heads into 2026-27 with more holes than patches. Here are the season-defining questions facing each key Warrior this winter. Can Steve Kerr geteveryoneto buy into a new philosophy?At media day, Kerr used variations on the word "reimagine" no less than eight separate times. It hasn't stopped there, worming its way into the verbiage of everyone in the organization, even Curry's.The buzzword is founded on a core Kerr belief: the league has passed the old Warriors by. These are no longer the days of Steph and Klay, KD and Draymond. These are instead the days of relying on LJ Cryer, Malevy Leons and Graham Ike, two-way players who have a combined total of less than 600 career NBA minutes.Golden State simply doesn't have the margin for error to play from chaos anymore, as Kerr has stressed. The Warriors will start more offensive possessions with five players on the perimeter – to encourage better spacing and rhythm – and harp on avoiding turnovers."If we're going to be this mistake-prone team that's not as skilled as we once were, it's going to be really hard," Kerr told the Chronicle last Saturday.This has not been a completely comfortable adjustment for Curry and Green. The Warriors still turned the ball over heaps in the preseason, and Kerr came away visibly tense from a win last week in Las Vegas. It will be a process."Got more habits to break," Kerr told reporters last Thursday. "More habits to build."Can Steph really play 65-70 games? This is Curry's expressed goal, as he told the Chronicle last week. It's fairly ambitious. Curry missed two months last season with an ailing right knee, and only played in 65-plus games three of his previous eight seasons.He's still really good. Curry averaged the third-highest points per game per 36 minutes (30.9) of his career last year, and shot his second-highest percentage from two-point range (excluding 2019-20's lost year). The focus is not on elevation, but preservation. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry high-fives forward/center Draymond Green after scoring a 3-pointer in the first period against the Los Angeles Lakers in a pre-season game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle) Curry and the Warriors designed a plan to ramp him up slower than usual this preseason. At times, he has looked like his normal off-ball workhorse. At times, he's moved a bit gingerly. If he's not at 100% for much of the season, the Warriors stand little chance.Can Draymond keep Golden State stable on both ends?Green was simply not a good offensive player for long stretches last year. And more is being asked of him, in offensive transition, than anybody else in Kerr's new system. He is starting more possessions away from the play, positioned in corners or wings, before his involvement in any action."Different, for sure," Green told the Chronicle last week. "Because, like, again, if you have the ball – you decide, kinda, what happens from there, you know? Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr talks with Draymond Green and Stephen Curry during the first half of a preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in San Francisco. (Jeff Chiu/Associated Press) In a (close to meaningless) preseason sample, though, Green has looked remarkably fresh, with a 4.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. Kerr's new principles could bring a more efficient version of Green, with fewer forced passes from out top. The Warriors are asking much of Green defensively, too. Porzingis is out indefinitely with health issues. Al Horford is 40. Reserve Charles Bassey has already been dealing with knee tendonitis. Green will have to play long stretches at center."It's almost like he welcomes that position that he's in right now, and he knows that he's going to have to do it," Horford said Oct. 16, of Green. "And there's just no way around it."Can Yaxel Lendeborg take his lumps and become a consistent scorer and defender?The night after Golden State nabbed Lendeborg out of Michigan with the No. 11 pick, Kerr had dinner with him. His messaging was firm: the Warriors needed Lendeborg. But Kerr did not guarantee starting spots to anybody. Especially rookies.Fast-forward a few months, after he won the Summer League MVP in July and put up a monster preseason, and Lendeborg has clearly won Kerr's initial trust."What's really obvious, after three weeks, is that he's a starter," Kerr said Monday. Golden State Warriors forwards Draymond Green and Yaxel Lendeborg look on during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against Los Angeles Clippers, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Honolulu. (Mengshin Lin/Associated Press) Lendeborg can run most any NBA body over, at 6-foot-9 and 241 pounds, and has shown a delicate touch as a pick-and-roll ballhandler and floor-spacer beyond the arc. The Warriors like his defensive size and wingspan, too, to theoretically guard multiple positions. How will he respond, though, when opposing teams begin to scout to pick Lendeborg up full-court, or when they hunt him on defensive switches with quicker ballhandlers?"For Yaxel, no matter what happens, good or bad, this is the beginning of the climb," Kerr said. "And I'm really confident in him, and I know he's very confident in himself."Can Jimmy Butler return at prime capacity?He thinks so, declaring at media day that his post-ACL-tear rehab numbers are "staggering" and "off the charts.""I'm confident that whenever I come back," Butler said then, "I'll be more than ready, I'll be more than healthy, and I'll be more of a better player, all-around player than I was whenever I went down."Butler's game isn't built on athleticism, which helps his cause. But he is 37 years old, and when he does return – likely around February, a year out from last year's surgery – he'll have a highly limited window to ramp up before the Warriors hit their stretch run. This is the biggest if of the season.Can Porzingis play?Here's the second-biggest. When GM Mike Dunleavy first announced Porzingis's extended absence on Sept. 28, he said he wasn't ruling out the 31-year-old center for the start of the season. A day later, in Hawaii, Kerr said he'd term Porzingis day-to-day.Both assessments proved wildly too hopeful.Porzingis has been seeking out specialized medical help, and he won't make this week's trip to Los Angeles. If he's on the court, he's the stretch-5, rim-protecting center that fits neatly into Kerr's offensive vision. Any further extended absence, though, and Golden State may find itself asking not when Porzingis can return but if.Can Podziemski be the best versions of himself? The 23-year-old Podziemski hopes his level of play late last season amid Curry's injury – 18.1 points per game in March and April – is his new floor, as a player. Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski receives a high-five from head coach Steve Kerr as he goes to the bench in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half of a pre-season game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. (Yalonda M. James/S.F. Chronicle) "From talking to Steve, talking to Mike, end-of-season meetings, they're kinda just like, ‘Do what you were doing the last six weeks,'" Podziemski told the Chronicle in early October. "And so, I know I have confidence from them and my teammates to do the same things. And now it's about like, where are the little gaps to add a little bit more than what I was doing."The trick, now, is making that work alongside Curry and eventually Butler, while improving the efficiency. He'll be a starter; if he can add a couple more free throws a game and bump up his three-point volume, Podziemski's five-year, $110 million training-camp extension could look like a bargain.Can Dunleavy set the organization up for 2027-28?Less a current issue, and more of a January/February concern. Golden State has $40 million in practical cap room for 2027-28. That figure could inflate up to $60 million if they cut Porzingis and second-year guard Will Richard, or deflate depending on any new deals for Green and Butler.That's plenty of flexibility, and Dunleavy has multiple first-round picks and expiring deals to play with as well. Could Butler net a current max-level player on a salary-match deal? Could Podziemski, on a potentially team-friendly five-year, $110 million extension, be dealt?Whatever choices he makes, Dunleavy has to find a direction or risk wasting the $10 million pay cut Curry gave Golden State on his most recent extension. The Warriors' ultimate lack of activity this past offseason could loom large."We took some swings this summer with some different possibilities, and they didn't pan out," Kerr said in late September. "Having been a GM before, I'm well aware that it's not as easy as just snapping your fingers."SubscribeThere’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Season-defining questions for Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Warriors' key figures.