The Warriors are betting on Brandin Podziemski to take a big jump in his fourth NBA season, signing the 23-year-old guard to a five-year, $110 million contract extension in the preseason. Podziemski discussed his goals for the pivotal season with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bonta Hill and Dalton Johnson.
“I think, first and foremost, win as many games as we can before Jimmy [Butler] and Moses [Moody] come back,” Podziemski stated. “I think getting off to a really good start is super important, the same way the ’22 championship team did.”
Wins were hard to come by for the Warriors last season. They finished under .500 for the first time since their abysmal 2019-20 NBA season and missed the playoffs for the second time in four years.
In particular, a sluggish start to the season was only made worse when Butler’s season ended due to injury in mid-January.
Podziemski says coach Steve Kerr got the team to focus on stacking wins early heading into the new season.
“Steve emphasized it the first two days in camp, like how good of a start we can get off...