SAN FRANCISCO – The 2025 NBA preseason is over, and everybody can sense a sigh of relief — including the Warriors, too.
To put a final stamp on the preseason, the Warriors battled all four quarters, but too many mistakes cost them in a 106-103 loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Chase Center.
Steph Curry’s 20 points led the Warriors, and his rookie teammate continued to make a strong impression. Will Richard started his second consecutive game and made an impact on both sides of the ball. The second-round 2025 NBA Draft pick out of Florida scored 13 points, but on 5-of-14 shooting and 3 of 10 on threes, adding four rebounds and three steals.
Neither team could consistently buy a bucket from beyond the arc. The Warriors (8 of 34) made 23.5 percent of their 3-point attempts, and while the Clippers made 15 triples, they converted on a lowly 32.6 percent clip.
The Warriors were without several key players, including Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Seth Curry and De’Anthony Melton.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ preseason finale.
Injury Scare
Health will be top of mind for the Warriors all season. The very last thing they, or any team, wants to see is a player go down in the final preseason tune-up. But just two and a half minutes into Friday night’s game, Brandin Podziemski took a hard fall and only added more worries once he was up.
Podziemski collided with Kobe Brown while dribbling at halfcourt. He stayed on the floor for an extended period and then hobbled very gingerly off the court and into the Warriors’ locker room. Podziemski tried twice to walk but had to stop right away before he finally was able to make his way down the tunnel with director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini.
While the Warriors ruled Podziemski’s return as questionable with a left hip contusion, he was back in at the 3:50 mark of the first quarter. Podziemski drained his first shot attempt, a three from the left wing, with just 25 seconds remaining in the first quarter, but he also had three turnovers in only six minutes.
Podziemski played 20 minutes and scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting. He didn’t rack up his usual rebounds or assists. His six turnovers were a team high, one more than Draymond Green’s five, and Podziemski’s minus-9 was the worst plus/minus among starters.
Turnover Trend Continues
Warriors players often joke they have three players allowed to turn the ball over: Curry, Green and Butler. Without Butler, that only gave two Golden State players the leeway Friday night. Yet the Warriors already had up to 14 turnovers at halftime, and Curry (one) and Green (two) were responsible for only three.
Seven players not named Curry or Green accounted for at least one turnover. Podziemski had the most of the bunch with four. Once the regular season begins in a few days, the Warriors simply can’t be as sloppy, especially in games they’re down at least one of their core veterans.
The Warriors entered Friday averaging 21.8 turnovers per game, which was fewer than only the Brooklyn Nets (24) and Indiana Pacers (23.7) in the preseason. Their 14 first-half turnovers resulted in 18 points for the Clippers. Luckily for Golden State, the Clippers tallied 15 turnovers in the first half for 16 Warriors points.
Though the Warriors took much better care of the ball in the second half with nine more turnovers, they ended the preseason with at least 20 turnovers (23 on Friday) in all five preseason games.
Curry Does His Part
When the fourth quarter began, the Warriors trailed by 11 points. The deficit was cut down to six points when Curry took a seat for the rest of the game, and he was the main reason why the Warriors got it down to a one-point game with eight and half minutes left.
When Curry left the game, he was leading the Warriors in points (20), assists (five) and plus/minus (plus-7). He also was second in rebounds (four). Curry made four 3-pointers in 30 minutes, and just one other Warrior had made more than one.
It’s true that the Warriors were down multiple players. As were the Clippers. There will be nights where even in Year 17 the Warriors need Curry to be a one-man show.
With the preseason over and the regular season lurking in the shadows, that can’t be the case too often starting Tuesday night in LA.
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