When asked about how Jonathan Kuminga fits into his rotation during a May 2025 interview, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr stirred up a bit of controversy. He publicly questioned if he could play Kuminga big minutes alongside his star players, with one statement standing out above the rest: "I’ve been asked to win."
Fast forward to 2026 and circumstances have undoubtedly changed. The question is: Will the Warriors finally press pause on inadequate attempts to win now in order to sustain success in the future?
It's too late for Kuminga, whose Warriors tenure came to an uncermonious end when he was benched and then traded for Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis continued the trend of 30-and-over players being at the heart of Golden State's plan for winning a fifth championship.
Unfortunately, he's also been the latest in a long line of All-Star players struggling to stay healthy during what's become a tumultuous season.
Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for the year after tearing his ACL in January, and Stephen Curry and Al Horford have both missed at least 20 games. With Butler out, Porzingis playing just once since early January, and depth more important than ever before, it's time to come to terms with reality.
Butler, Curry, and Draymond Green may be the big three, but the Warriors will only go as far as their supporting cast enables the stars to lead them—and that requires empowerment.
Warriors must embrace youth movement as injuries hit stars hard
In a perfect world, the Warriors' stars would be healthy and able to lead the team to exceptional heights. Considering Butler is 36, Curry is 37, Green is 35, and Horford is 39, however, it's fair to question if the Warriors' core four would've been able to hold up across four postseason series.
That inevitably placed a heavy burden on the supporting cast to step up—so why hasn't more of an emphasis been placed on allowing them to excel outside of the star-centric system?
Brandin Podziemski, 23, leads all under-30 Warriors players at 27.2 minutes per game. De'Anthony Melton, 27, is the only player under 30 who's averaging at least 10.0 field goal attempts. At 25.0, Melton is the only under-30 player with a usage rate higher than 18.8.
Perhaps Kerr is on to something with rotations that depend on short spurts that allow younger players to go all-out and then rest, but they aren't being given enough opportunities to grow.
Warriors must build for the future to truly improve the present
The Warriors continue to overburden their over-35 players and underutilize their under-30 contributors. There's clearly the potential for error with generally unproven talent taking on larger offensive roles, but there's no longer a valid argument for holding back.
Butler is out for the season, Curry is in and out of the rotation with injuries of his own, and the Warriors' only shot at making this season count is to make progress that lasts beyond it.
Kerr must empower Moses Moody and Podziemski to not only continue to play important roles, but make mistakes with heavier burdens on their shoulders when wins aren't necessarily expected. He must give up-and-comers such as Quinten Post and Will Richard the green light to take chances they may not have been able to justify taking when Butler was healthy and a bigger priority.
More than anything, Kerr must allow his current up-and-comers to make mistakes so that they can learn from them without the fear of being benched and truly show if they can grow from the experience.
It's fair to believe that every season is championship or bust with a living legend like Curry. At some point, however, the Warriors will need to get realistic about how close they are to a title and the simple fact that turning their role players into better versions of themselves will give Curry a better shot at winning it all than hoping aging veterans can hold up in imbalanced roles.
Rather than utilizing the up-and-comers as placeholders until Curry is back, Kerr must evolve his system to balance the present with the future. It's the only way to begin to truly contend again.