Brandin Podziemski cementing as future Warriors star with trio of must-see highlights

Brandin Podziemski's red-hot form continued on Tuesday night, with the second-year guard once again playing a lead part in the Golden State Warriors' blowout 133-95 victory at Footprint Center.

The 22-year-old had 17 point in just 14 first-half minutes, before finishing with 22, five rebounds and three assists on a super efficient 7-of-12 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 from 3-point range in a little over 22 minutes.

Brandin Podziemski's scoring has taken a huge leap

Tuesday's performance continues the best stretch of Podziemski's short career, having now gone for at least 19 points in five of his past six games which has included making 27 of his 46 (58.7%) of his 3-pointers in the same span.

But while Podziemski has become an efficient catch-and-shoot threat which makes him a perfect complement to Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, it's his individual shot-creation and shot-making that's arguably more impressive and is cementing him as a future star of the league.

The former 19th overall pick was on from the opening possession, bailing out a stagnant Warrior possession with an incredible tough fading 3-pointer out of the corner for the first score of the game.

Podziemski's ability to score in a multitude of ways has become a major highlight for Golden State in the past couple of weeks, with his growth in isolation scoring further proven by a tough fading baseline jump-shot late in the first-quarter despite a pair of Suns defenders being in the vicinity.

While not overly big nor blessed with a quick first step, there has previously been a question mark on Podziemski's ability to get to the rim and finish through traffic. What he does have however is excellent footwork and an excellent pump-fake, allowing him to create space to get a shot off against bigger, athletic defenders.

Podziemski's ability to decelerate when driving to the rim has become one of his patented moves, with that once again on display late in the second-quarter on Tuesday night as he let Devin Booker and Ryan Dunn fly-by to finish a layup in transition.

When Podziemski and the Warriors were labelling him as a future star last offseason, many were skeptical of his ability to become a good enough scorer to reach that status. Those concerns have been eased over the past fortnight, with Podziemski's scoring ability endorsed by star teammate Jimmy Butler following Tuesday's win over the Suns.

"He's becoming more and more confident, realizing he's a starter on this team and any other team in this league," Butler told Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. "And that he can score, shoot, create...with the best of them. He's going to be a big reason in us winning what we're trying to win."

In what's becoming an interesting trend ahead of the postseason, Podziemski has actually become Golden State's second-leading scorer above Butler over recent games. Not only has this development come at an important time for the Warriors playoff hopes, but is re-writing his potential in the league for years to come.