Things looked rough for the Golden State Warriors last night against the San Antonio Spurs—there's no denying that fact.
The Spurs jumped out to an 18-point lead before the Warriors were able to log their first made basket, and from there, San Antonio's three-guard lineup virtually never relented. Even when they were on the bench, there was someone on the court making life difficult for the Warriors offense: a task that became immensely easier with Stephen Curry out of the lineup.
Now, it's hopefully not going to look like that on a nightly basis in Curry's absence. At the very least, not every opponent is going to be as skilled or uniquely equipped to stop Golden State's offensive attack as the Spurs are. But that game was still a major cause for concern.
Where are the Warriors going to get consistent scoring from in Curry's absence, and are they going to be able to find a new rotational structure before they lose all of the ground they gained during their eight-game winning streak?
The primary answers to that pair of questions likely lie with Yaxel Lendeborg and Brandin Podziemski, who emerged as the second and third options when Curry was on the court. But Gui Santos, who's struggled heavily to match the sort of production he saw last year in a depleted rotation, needs to be part of the solution as well.
Gui Santos needs to find his form ASAP if the Warriors are going to find a complete offensive attack in Curry's absence
Again, the onus here lies primarily upon Lendeborg and Podziemski.
Lendeborg had the worst game of his young NBA career last night, making just one of his 13 shots and only posting one assist even as he maintained his role as the lead ball-handler with the second unit. Podziemski also lost significant traction from what we'd seen from him to this point in the season next to Curry, posting just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field over the course of the matchup.
If that's what things are going to look like on a nightly basis with Curry out, Golden State is in serious trouble.
But assume those two players can find their form over the next couple of matchups. Lendeborg, particularly, looked uncomfortable trying to create his own shots and find his mismatches without Curry's gravity to garner the attention of San Antonio's swarming defense. If he's going to be the primary scoring option for the Warriors during this stretch, he's going to need to become more aggressive during his minutes with the starting five.
And it's unfair to ask a rookie to handle that sort of responsibility and also be the primary engine of the bench unit. Moving Lendeborg up in the offensive hierarchy of the team, then, causes a ripple effect along the rest of the rotation.
This is where Santos comes in. After he entered the starting lineup last season in the absences of Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Moses Moody, he rapidly identified himself as a consistent double-digit scorer, making use of his viable outside shooting and his smooth interior footwork to consistently keep opposing defenses on their toes. Across his final 29 games in 2025-26, Santos averaged 15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and four assists while knocking down 34.3% of his attempts from beyond the arc.
But as Santos has dealt with tendinitis issues in the early part of this campaign, he hasn't looked remotely the same as a scorer. He hasn't had a double-digit scoring game since Oct. 24 against the Denver Nuggets, and he still looked highly uncomfortable against San Antonio doing things that came to him with relative ease last season. He wasn't taking his man off the dribble, and he largely wasn't a factor on the interior.
Golden State has other options to turn to in the meantime. LJ Cryer looks like a real rotation-caliber guard and perimeter shooter, and Georges Niang can certainly provide more scoring than he did last night.
But this team needs scoring depth in Curry's absence, and Santos—even if it's just a consistent 10 to 12 points per game—needs to be part of the solution sooner rather than later.
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