Gui Santos simply hasn't been the same player we saw at the end of last season, but the Golden State Warriors are putting the young forward in an impossible situation by asking him to play through injury.
It's an issue the Warriors created for themselves by building an aging, veteran roster, and by starting the season instantly down three players with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody recovering from long-term knee injuries, and with Kristaps Porzingis absent from the team and stepping away from basketball together.
Warriors are putting Gui Santos in an impossible situation
You only have to watch Santos play to understand that in an ideal world -- one where Golden State had more than nine main roster players available -- the Brazilian would be resting and making sure his current knee issue was fully healed.
The Warriors instead need Santos out on the floor to fill some minutes, particularly when their wing/forward spot is already decimated by Butler and Moody's absence. Santos isn't the only Warrior playing through injury either, with Will Richard battling through a torn UCL in his thumb rather than getting surgery.
The Santos situation feels more dramatic though because of the startling difference between his current form/impact, and what we saw at the end of last season when he took advantage of Butler ans Curry's absence.
The 24-year-old averaged 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists after the All-Star break, shooting an efficient 48.7% from the floor. Santos is now averaging 5.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists through nine games this season, shooting only 41% from the floor and 26.7% from beyond the arc.
Gui Santos isn't helping Warriors or himself right now
Santos has already missed two games recently due to this ongoing knee issue. In the three games since that two-game absence, Santos has played only 43 minutes and has had little to no impact, including going scoreless in 12 minutes against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
When asked about Santos' health following the game, head coach Steve Kerr agreed that he didn't look quite right and isn't moving as well as he normally does. The other issue is that Santos' real strengths that we saw at the end of last season -- footwork, pivot game and crafty finishing around the rim -- are directly impacted by a knee injury.
Here’s Steve Kerr on Warriors in non-Yaxel minutes. I asked if Gui Santos’s knee was still bothering him, and said Santos didn’t quite look right.
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) November 12, 2026
Kerr: “I agree. I don’t think he’s moving as well as he normally does. So, could be. But, yeah, we’ll keep on that.” pic.twitter.com/py6RPhxaql
The Warriors can't afford to have Santos sit out given the growing number of players they have on the sidelines, but at the same time he's not positively helping the team or himself with what he's doing on the floor at the moment.
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