{"id":113837,"date":"2025-01-20T09:56:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T14:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113837"},"modified":"2025-01-20T09:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T14:57:38","slug":"klay-thompson-replacement-brandin-podziemski-has-warriors-jittery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/20\/klay-thompson-replacement-brandin-podziemski-has-warriors-jittery\/","title":{"rendered":"Klay\u2019s Presumed Replacement With Starters Has Warriors Jittery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not seeing Klay Thompson<\/a> in a Warriors uniform continues to be uncanny for many of us. A homegrown talent, Captain Klay began his NBA journey in the Bay Area. Playing eleven seasons for the franchise, the veteran guard accounted for several unforgettable moments.<\/p>\n

Sadly robbed of a storybook ending, the Thompson-Warriors chapter concluded on July 6, 2024. According to reports, failed contract negotiations and a declining role alluded to this breakup. A sign-and-trade sent Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks. Finding themselves in a challenging situation, head coach Steve Kerr<\/a> and staff laid their bets on Brandin Podziemski<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 19th pick in the 2023 draft showed a lot of promise in his rookie season. Averaging 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, the Santa Clara product shot close to 39% from the 3-point line. However, entering his sophomore year, Podziemski seems to have regressed, with injuries prodding him as well.<\/p>\n

Klay Thompson’s Potential Backup Has the Warriors Jittery<\/h2>\n

Uncertainty Over the Brandin Podziemski Experiment<\/h3>\n

Making the 2023-24 All-Rookie First Team, the Warriors had big plans for Podziemski. The management had allegedly planned<\/a> to insert the 21-year-old in the starting lineup, which implied Thompson coming off the bench. Nonetheless, things became easier with the latter heading to Dallas.<\/p>\n

Entrusted with this big responsibility, Podziemski has started eight games this season but failed to deliver. From the looks of it, the 6-foot-4 guard wasn’t ready for showtime. Adding to Kerr’s woes is his plummeting three-point shooting. He is shooting just 29.5% from beyond the arc this season.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Dennis Schroder<\/a>‘s arrival in December helped Podziemski regain lost momentum<\/a>.
\nThat wasn\u2019t for long though as the Warriors guard sustained an abdominal injury. Out for over three weeks now, Coach Kerr is positive about Podziemski returning soon.<\/p>\n

The Klay Thompson Gap<\/h3>\n

The five-time All-Star’s void continues to be a challenge for the Dubs. Engaging in several trade talks<\/a> during the off-season, the front office kept Podziemski off the table. Though viewed as a temporary fix, the common consensus was grooming the Wisconsin native under Stephen Curry<\/a> and Draymond Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for how things stand today, Golden State’s Podziemski gamble might have possibly been an error of judgment. No doubt, Thompson wasn’t the same after his catastrophic injuries, but he could still contribute in different ways. Thompson also has that championship DNA.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

While it might be early to form any analysis of Podziemski, viewing him as a replacement for Thompson is tough to digest thus far. Many of us have forgotten the Thompson that dropped 60 points on 11 dribbles<\/a> and had 14 threes<\/a> in a single game. He was a two-way guard who could play lockdown defense as well.<\/p>\n

Returning from back-to-back season-ending injuries, Thompson helped the Dubs in their quest for a fourth title in eight years. A future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Thompson deserves to see his #11 jersey hang in the rafters of Chase Center someday. There is a growing notion that the Big 3 of Curry, Green, and Thompson deserve to have their statues outside the new arena in San Francisco, given their contributions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not seeing Klay Thompson in a Warriors uniform continues to be uncanny for many of us. A homegrown talent, Captain Klay began his NBA journey in the Bay Area. Playing eleven seasons for the franchise, the veteran guard accounted for several unforgettable moments. Sadly robbed of a storybook ending, the Thompson-Warriors chapter concluded on July […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5398,"featured_media":119129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,25],"tags":[48978,70,48,528],"class_list":["post-113837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-warriors","tag-brandin-podziemski","tag-klay-thompson","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-kerr"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5398"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119128,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113837\/revisions\/119128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}