The Golden State Warriors made a strong start to their 2023-24 campaign on Saturday night, claiming a 125-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in their preseason opener.
After regaining the lead at 20-19 with just over three minutes left in the opening period, the Warriors never trailed again before their younger players continued a strong impression with a dominant fourth-quarter.
The Golden State Warriors produced a consistent team display across their 17-point victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.
With a number of new faces since their second-round playoff exit against the same opposition, Warrior fans couldn’t have asked for much more in an exciting first-up performance. The Lakers were without two of their three best players in LeBron James and Austin Reaves, though that was mitigated somewhat by the absence of Draymond Green for Golden State.
Despite missing the former Defensive Player of the Year, veteran point-guard Cory Joseph, and training camp invitee Rodney McGruder, head coach Steve Kerr still had 18 players available at his disposal.
Chris Paul is starting to get used to the Golden State love ♥️ pic.twitter.com/JzrE5BEIH9
— NBA (@NBA) October 8, 2023
As promised, every player got some run during the comfortable win. The starting five of Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney played across two different stints in the first-half, while the remainder of the game was left for the Warrior reserves.
The consistent team nature of the victory was epitomized in the plus-minus of each individual, with all 18 players recording between +2 and +6. Some players were more impressive, and received more opportunity than others though, bringing some interesting questions to take forward into the remainder of preseason.
Who is set for more prominent rotation roles and which player is on the cusp of winning the vacant 14th roster spot? Let’s grade every Golden State player from their impressive performance on Saturday: