For four seasons, Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody has been the epitome of the player who can be as good as he allows himself to be. He's epitomized the notion that a skilled and talented player can make a significant leap if they simply develop the confidence to take chances on offense.
Five years in, it appears as though the former lottery pick is finally realizing just how important it is to shoot through his struggles instead of being reluctant to bet on himself.
Moody has jumped out to a thrilling start to the 2025-26 regular season. He's on pace to set new career-best marks in points, assists, blocks, and three-point field goals made per game, and already has three 20-point games through 11 appearances.
By comparison, Moody had four 20-point showings in 2024-25, when he appeared in 74 games—a difference of reaching 20 in 0.5 percent of his showings a season ago to 27.3 percent in 2025-26.
Beyond the numbers, Moody is allowing himself to make mistakes and holding on to his confidence after doing so. He's becoming more assertive when his shot is falling and responding to adversity by rallying instead of fading into the background.
Five years after drafting him, Moody is finally becoming the player who the Warriors and their fans always hoped he could be.
Moses Moody playing with confidence he previously lacked with Warriors
Moody hasn't been perfect, shooting inefficiently at times as all players are prone to doing. He responded to a 1-of-6 showing by scoring 20 points the next time out, however, and answered a quiet 1-of-3 performance against the Indiana Pacers with arguably the best stretch of his career.
Since that poor showing, Moody has averaged 16.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 block, 1.0 steal, and 3.5 three-point field goals made on .462/.438/.882 shooting across a six-game stretch.
That six-game run included Moody scoring 24 and 28 points on consecutive nights. What may have been oddly the most encouraging development of all, however, was when he followed those performances by shooting 1-of-9 against the Denver Nuggets.
It was an objectively poor performance, but rather than going back into his shell, Moody attempted 11 shots the following night—the type of response he wouldn't have had in previous seasons.
Moody has since scored 10 points in 20 minutes on 3-of-6 shooting, and 19 points in 26 minutes on 6-of-13 shooting. He's also attempted no fewer than four three-point field goals in any of the past six games, and has reached or surpassed that figure in eight of his 11 appearances overall.
For a player who has made a career out of second-guessing himself, Moody simply responding to poor shooting nights by forgetting they happened is a colossal step forward.
Moses Moody has been a different player since the Jimmy Butler trade
In many ways, Moody's success in 2025-26 is a continuation of the step forward that he took after the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler in 2024-25. He posted all four of his 20-point games last season after the Butler trade, for instance, and seemingly embraced a more defined role within the system.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr acknowledged as much earlier in 2025 when he praised Moody for finding the role that suited him and thriving within it, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
"I thought the picture became much clearer for Moses after the [Butler] trade," Kerr said. "The last couple years there was a clear overlap with [Andrew Wiggins], [Jonathan Kuminga] and Moses. The trade sort of solidified Moses' spot as on-ball defender, 3-point shooter, playing off of other guys. I thought for the first time in his four years here, everything became simpler and was clarified, and he did a great job within that."
If the early stages of the 2025-26 regular season have proven anything, it's that Moody is becoming more comfortable by the day with the role he's been given.