It doesn't come, in the least, as a surprise that the Golden State Warriors will be looking to rest many of their veterans—including Stephen Curry—as often as possible over the course of 2026-27.
Even excluding Jimmy Butler, who's not slated to return from his ACL injury until at least mid-season, this roster has three major pieces at or nearing the age of 40. Curry is 38, and he's coming off a season that was heavily limited by recurring knee soreness. Draymond Green is 36. Al Horford is 40.
Each of these players is going to need to miss their fair share of back-to-backs, and the organization almost certainly has a plan in place to stagger and maximize each of their rest days over the course of the 82-game campaign. Steve Kerr's acknowledgement, then, of Curry's limitations and slower ramp-up at this point in the process isn't necessarily surprising.
“We are purposely ramping up Steph more slowly this year, this training camp, than he's used to. In the past, by this time he was already in such good playing shape and rhythm because of his routine and his work ethic. We purposely are holding him back this year, trying to lessen the load with the knee in mind in particular. So, we're ramping him up more slowly. He's right on schedule. This is exactly how we planned it to this point, but every day means he's doing less.” Steve Kerr via NBC Sports Bay Area
But with Kristaps Porzingis already without a definite timeline to kick off his season, Kerr's reminder to fans hoping to see Curry during some of the Warriors' early season games comes as a stark reminder.
It's going to be an uphill battle to stay afloat early on in 2026-27.
The Warriors likely already have a number of losses written into their early-season slate
Again, it shouldn't come as a major surprise that Curry is going to need to miss some time early in the season. Over the past couple of years, though, Golden State has entered the Play-In Tournament so bogged down and fatigued from a late-season push that it was hard to envision them forcing their way through a deep playoff run.
If the Warriors want to have any shot of securing a top play-in seed, let alone a bona fide playoff berth, they're going to need to do more than tread water until Butler returns.
The Western Conference may not be as deep as the East this year, but there will certainly be teams in the Warriors' range that will pose a serious challenge for even the ninth or tenth seed. The Portland Trail Blazers have some upside with Ja Morant and Damian Lillard in their backcourt, as do the Dallas Mavericks—who are getting Kyrie Irving back from his ACL injury. Teams like the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz likely also have a baseline of performance and youth that could help them rack up some wins during the regular season.
Porzingis being out of at least the early-season rotation for the Warriors is already a huge blow to their competitiveness. They'll be forced to lean on a small-ball lineup, with Green playing out of position again, more often than not. Whenever Curry needs to miss time before Porzingis returns, you may as well write in a loss on the Warriors' schedule.
It's unclear if Kerr is talking simply about early-season back-to-backs when it comes to rest for the veterans. Even if that's the case, the Warriors have four of those between now and Jan. 1. If the ramp-up is going to be even slower than that—with Curry playing, say, 22 or 23 of the Warriors' first 32 games—it's going to be difficult to enter the new year with a solid record.
There's reason for optimism when it comes to this team's ceiling, assuming everyone is healthy and clicking by the end of the campaign. But as the team attempts to avoid unnecessary strain on its veterans, it's getting harder to picture the early part of this season going well for Golden State.
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