Warriors should consider shock starting lineup call amid huge front court question

With Lauri Markkanen no longer available to be their ultimate answer, the Golden State Warriors are facing a number of lineup and rotation questions entering next season.

The front court combination is set to offer Steve Kerr the most headaches in training camp, with Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis likely fighting for two spots alongside Draymond Green.

Each option presents its own challenge. Excluding Wiggins gives Golden State a distinct lack of shooting, not to mention pushing your primary perimeter defender back to the bench. Pushing Kuminga out of the starting five again would be ill-advised given the need for another dynamic scorer, and would appear unlikely particularly if he's signed to a major contract extension in the coming months.

Jackson-Davis is the most obvious candidate to come off the bench, yet that leaves a 34-year-old, 6'6" Green as the starting center to battle behemoths around the league on a game-to-game basis -- that doesn't scream sustainable.

Should veteran forward Draymond Green be a guaranteed starter for the Golden State Warriors heading into next season?

According to ESPN's Kendra Andrews on Wednesday, Green and Stephen Curry are the only two locked into the starting five, with the other three positions wide open heading into training camp. But if the Warriors want to eliminate the issues outlined above, should they consider the shock move of bringing Green off the bench?

There's a legitimate argument for it. Having the 4x All-Star as the starting center should be untenable, but so too is bringing Kuminga off the bench in his fourth year. A Wiggins-Kuminga-Jackson-Davis front court may provide the most sustainable balance of offense and defense across the course of an 82-game season.

It would also provide an open runway for Kuminga and Jackson-Davis to take a significant leap, and for Wiggins to try and return to somewhere near his best after a career-worst year. With Golden State having failed to land a second star this offseason, their best chance at significant improvement is through their young players and a bounce-back from Wiggins.

Green could still play 25-30 minutes off the bench and assuredly be in the closing lineup, likely in place of Jackson-Davis. The move could help preserve his energy across the course of an arduous season, something that would not only allow him to be more of a factor in the playoffs should the Warriors get there, but extend the life of his impact over the remainder of his career.

Golden State's biggest asset may still be the chemistry between Curry and Green -- not having that to start the game could be riskier than having Green as the starting center. How would Curry feel about losing Klay Thompson, seeing Green move to the bench, and having to start alongside a fourth-year player (Kuminga) and two second-year players in Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski? The 2x MVP probably wouldn't be thrilled.

It's for those reasons that while it should be a consideration, it won't happen at least in the short-term. It is a storyline to monitor as the season progresses, with the Warriors faith in the likes of Podziemski and Kuminga suggesting that further transition is coming sooner rather than later.