Three Things Learned from the Warriors Preseason Debut
The Warriors began their duties for the 2025-2026 campaign last night, taking down the Lakers inside Chase Center. The preseason doesn’t often tell us much, as star players are usually either on a minute restriction or not playing at all. The Lakers were without arguably their three best players yesterday, as neither LeBron James, Luka Doncic, nor Austin Reaves suited up for the black and gold. Nevertheless, these games are not worthless, as they often help coaches gain insight into how they can adjust rotations and achieve optimal team chemistry.
The two teams had their respective spurts of offense throughout the first half, which saw Golden State enter the break with just a seven-point lead. Coming out of the locker room, the Warriors went on a 12-2 run and comfortably maintained their double-digit advantage until the final buzzer. Unlike Los Angeles, Golden State let its main contributors get a fair number of minutes, until coach Kerr pulled out the team’s “core” after halftime. Let’s dive into a few things that we learned during the team’s first competitive contest this season.
Moses Moody poised for a step-up: Moody played one of his best games as a Warrior last night. He led the team with 19 points on a very efficient 7/9 field goal attempts. Moody looked confident on the court, making decisions without hesitation on offense. His jump shots were pure, as he did most of his damage from beyond the arc. When the Warriors drafted the Arkansas alum, they envisioned him as a knockdown shooter whom they could rely on. Consistency is something that Moody has lacked thus far in his short NBA career, but he showed some auspicious signs last night that he’ll look to carry into the regular season.
Al Horford and Jonathan Kuminga haven’t skipped a beat: Their offseasons couldn’t have differed more, but we saw flashes of what these two can provide yesterday. Despite his summer-long drama with the team, Kuminga has said in multiple press conferences that he’s ready to focus on basketball. He looked like that against the Lakers, scoring five points along with six rebounds and four assists. Kuminga demonstrated that he can impact a contest in multiple ways, playing as a versatile wing who can do a bit of everything. Horford’s three blocks in just 14 minutes stood out on the stat sheet, with the former Celtic looking like the defensive anchor the Warriors hope for him to be.
Turnovers remain as Golden State’s Achilles heel: For yet another match, coach Kerr’s group lost the turnover battle, 21-19. This theme has unfortunately recurred a few times. Two years ago, the Warriors had a 15.2 turnover percentage, a metric used to measure the number of turnovers a team records per 100 possessions. For reference, the league average from that season was three percentage points lower, at 12.1%. Backed up by statistics, the Warriors have hurt themselves more than other teams in recent memory. Unless they resolve this issue, they will struggle to put teams away early this season, and this may force their star players to play more minutes despite their advanced age.
