Saturday was a special day for the organization, its fans, and one of its players: guard Brandin Podziemski. Nine days before the October 19 deadline that would have turned him into a restricted free agent next summer, the two sides agreed on a five-year, $110 million extension.
"I'm grateful for the organization, taking a leap of faith in me and wanting me here for the future," Podziemski said postgame.
The young guard has repeated throughout the contract process that he didn't really care about the money and focused solely on basketball. With the extension now in the books, he admitted that the first aspect of the extension that hit him was the generational wealth it provides, understandably so.
Now, Podziemski really gets to shift his entire focus to what happens on the court. A few hours after putting pen to paper, Podziemski put up 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes in the Warriors' 111-106 win over the Kings.
With just a couple of preseason games on the schedule before it starts counting for real, Kerr mentioned in his postgame interview that the team must cut down on their turnovers. They've now committed 79 over their four preseason games. He said he plans on clipping 8-10 of them to show to the team.
"That's what we have to clean up," Kerr said postgame. "Our whole purpose in training camp is to win the game in the margins, you're going to hear me say that a lot, the ball is everything. You just can make mindless plays in this sport and expect to win at this level."
Still, a lot of positive and exciting stuff happened at Chase Center on Saturday night, so here are a few takeaways from the Warriors' fourth preseason game:
Lendeborg is turning into a real threat
It was just Lendeborg's third NBA game — with none of them counting towards a record — but the doubts surrounding whether the rookie is ready to contribute right away seem to have been buried deep. The 24-year-old recorded his first double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists, two steals and one block.
"We're going to play through him a lot this year," Kerr said about Lendeborg.
Following the Lakers game on Tuesday, Lendeborg had some bold words about his ability to rebound in the NBA, saying that rebounding in the league was easier than in college. So far, it's been hard to argue with him. After grabbing 10 more boards against the Kings, Lendeborg now leads the NBA in rebounds in the preseason with 28 of them. Seeing him on the double-double watch every single day wouldn't be a surprise.
Offensively, he looked more comfortable than ever. He spent the night attacking the basket in transition, finding open shooters, and driving through people at the rim to create and-one opportunities. That ability to thrive in the open floor will surely help the Warriors improve in fast-break points, a category in which they ranked 28th in the league last season and want to improve. Multiple times against the Kings did he grab a rebound and go coast to coast for a bucket.
He's going to be a presence in the paint, too. Out of his 23 points, 18 came in the restricted area. At 6-foot-9 and 241 pounds, the rookie is really using that big frame to create space and rise up to the basket. In transition, nobody wants to stand between him and the basket.
One of the other top picks in this year's draft, Darius Acuff Jr., also put on a show, finishing with 25 points, four rebounds and eight assists.
The Santos/Williams tandem will be key for the second unit
Brandon Williams hasn't stopped amazing fans and coaches since joining the franchise this summer, and his role is already clear: get buckets off the bench. He's been doing just that in his four preseason games, reaching double digits in all of them after adding 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting against the Kings.
The one gray area of his game has been the three-point shot — he shot 23.2% on 2.3 attempts from beyond the arc last season. Kerr has encouraged him to take the open ones, and Williams knocked down his two attempts on Saturday, including one that beat the buzzer in the third.
B Will beat the buzzer 🚨
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) October 11, 2026
📺 @NBCSAuthentic pic.twitter.com/FoF9BTWXxB
Pair Williams' quickness with Santos' craftiness, and the Warriors have got themselves a dynamic duo in the second unit. Santos put on a display at the rim, finishing with 15 points and six rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting.
The experience Santos gained from his increased playing time following Jimmy Butler's injury is paying off now for the Warriors. Over the last 35 games of last season, Santos started 28 and averaged over 29 minutes per contest. Given the current injury situation, Santos is still expected to be in the starting lineup alongside Draymond Green and Lendeborg when Kerr decides to go with his small-ball group.
The duo combined for 34 points against the Kings, but there was one major blemish in their performance: 10 turnovers, five each. No big theory needed here. It just can't happen.
Melton needs to show more offensively
The news about his two injured thumbs only surfaced during the offseason. Therefore, part of the struggles Melton went through last season could have been explained by that constant discomfort. He shot under 40% from the field and 30% from three over his 21 games after the All-Star break. The injuries are now behind him; Melton needs to prove he can contribute offensively night in and night out.
So far in preseason, it's been a major struggle. After his scoreless outing against the Kings, he's now gone just 3-for-17 across his three preseason outings. His defense at the point of attack and at the rim is still there. He recorded three blocks and one steal on Saturday, but what made his combination with Curry so efficient last season — they posted a +9 net rating in 250 minutes together — was his ability to score both on and off the ball.
Overall, the Warriors were successful with Melton on the floor. His +3.9 net rating when on the floor was the second-highest on the team behind only Butler. It's still unclear whether he'll spend most of his minutes next to Curry or his former high school teammate Williams. Against the Kings, he was on the floor with Curry for 7:31 against just 1:11 with Williams.
Most of the starters have seen their minutes starting to ramp up ahead of the season opener, now 10 days away, except for Curry. Kerr said pregame that the ramp-up will be a little slower for the star guard. He's expected to play in the second half against the Lakers on Tuesday.
With two days off ahead of them, the Warriors will have to work on the things they need to improve — such as taking care of the ball — before travelling to Las Vegas to take on the Lakers again, this time a healthy version.
Add us as a preferred source on Google