3 changes to the Golden State Warriors starting lineup that should be considered

1. Looney out, Saric in

Whenever Kerr wants to find more three-point shooting, big man Kevon Looney is inevitably the player that makes way, whether that fair or unfair. We saw that in the 2022 NBA Finals with Otto Porter Jr. playing the last three games, and even last season when Kerr turned to JaMychal Green for a brief moment in the second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Golden State have upgraded the Green spot with the acquisition of Dario Saric during the offseason. He seems a more viable candidate to replace Looney, while not necessarily giving up the size like you would with a Chris Paul or Gary Payton II.

Saric is also just a better three-point shooter than Paul and Payton, even if his 33.3% on the season is a little underwhelming. The Croatian would be an undoubted downgrade defensively, yet can it get much worse than the current 126.6 defensive rating?

This feels like a move Kerr would make during a playoff series, but doing it this early in the season would be a reflection on how bad the starting lineup is performing to date. It would put extra pressure on Green — not ideal when he’s still trying to ramp up from an early ankle injury — though again, it wouldn’t be as bad as adding another guard like Paul or Payton.