Preview: Oh Golden State, are you about to steal my heart again?

Giannis and Bucks will offer a challenge, but Warriors are looking - and feeling - good

Life has gone fast for me lately so for the first time in a long time, I missed almost all of the Warriors’ preseason. Maybe it was the news surrounding the contracting stalemate of Jonathan Kuminga causing a logjam of rumored free agency holdouts until just prior to training camp - and it has become harder to watch games - these Golden State Warriors have burst into my consciousness.

And it’s clear I’m not alone. Dub Nation is alive in a way that is electric. Early season honeymoon or not, over the first five games of the season, the Warriors have displayed some new wrinkles that are folding those old wrinkles like one of those really cute dogs that looks like they’ve been stuffed into too large of a onesie.¹ And everyone is very excited! This was Oracle-level rowdy:

This evening takes the Warriors into Milwaukee, where they’ve got to face an excellent Bucks team featuring a scary version of Giannis - who is averaging a beefy 36.3 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists through the season’s first four games.

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WHO: Golden State Warriors (4-1) at Milwaukee Bucks (3-1)

WHEN: Thursday, October 29th, 2025; 5pm PDT

WATCH: NBCSBA

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Evolution not revolution

Change has never come gently to Golden State. It’s always been disguised as chaos - the end of something that turns out to be the start of something else. That’s what makes this version of the Warriors so fascinating: they’re evolving in plain sight, without ever quite surrendering who they were.

Not to pick at old scabs, but when James Wiseman was drafted - I’m talking draft night “he could be the next Duncan or Robinson?” insanity - I had a sense of dread. Curry, the transformative star was surely fading, right? After all, why have a transition plan if it wasn’t an eventual shifting of onus?

And so Golden State fans went into a frenzy watching it not pan out. Plans shifted, priorities were re-evaluated and some sacrifices made. Some hearts were broken along the way. To be transparent, this is one of the hardest times of year to write about a team. Statistical patterns are too fresh to be considered trends, so every aspect of basketball analysis becomes a Schrödinger’s cat of hopes, dreams and biases.

But in the “maybe this could mean something after all” bucket, there was an important milestone that was breached by this year’s iteration of our favorite basketball team two games ago. It doesn’t happen every season, and may or may not be a reliable predictor of future success, but the team showed up for Curry in an impressive way. Of course, it’s Curry, so this is all reported within context of how instrumental he was in the team’s decisive victory over the Los Angeles Clippers; but a rare feat was accomplished:

Curry shot 7 for 15 a night after four Warriors players scored 20 or more points to beat Memphis — but it marked just the sixth time in Curry’s 17 seasons he wasn’t one of them.

What sunk into my soul from this was a warm realization. Curry might finally be able to trust his support network… well, that’s not fair to say, because the Warriors have certainly cemented the very real (if a bit cheesy) phrase, Strength In Numbers through a number of very big moments throughout the years.

But what we saw in that Grizzlies game - a game where Kuminga, Podziemski and Moody provided proof of concept that building around Curry doesn’t necessarily mean a full teardown. And yes, yes. I KNOW. I’ve been smacked in the face with this enough times that it should be as familiar as a pair of glasses, but sometimes you look but don’t see stuff like that.

With Butler’s arrival and the departure of Klay Thompson, the old book was clearly destined to be turned to another chapter, but I wasn’t ready for how much I’d love this new team.

If you were waiting to see what Kuminga was going to be like this season, he’s answered through a revived zeal for dunking the basketball and a newfound passing game that plays perfectly into some of the adjustments that the Warriors have made this season. And if you haven’t watched it yet, please spend a few minutes with Apricot. This most recent installment starts off with my favorite analogy of his: Jimmy Butler and the difference between Curry’s air bending central play themes, and those more grounded and simple earth-based play calls that Butler favors.

Only now, coach Steve Kerr has added a new wrinkle. You’ll never guess… oh. Yup. You guessed it. More off-ball screen action.

Anyways, now Kuminga is penciled in as the team’s fourth full time starter, joining Curry, Butler, and Green. This is the outcome that Kuminga reportedly wanted, and it feels such a natural fit, it’s almost hard to remember what all the holdup was.

“I think he’s ready to take on that role defensively,” Kerr said. “And what he’s doing offensively, the decision making and shot selection, you’ve hardly seen any of the mid-shot clock, 17-footers. You’re seeing him be much more purposeful, getting the ball to Jimmy (Butler) and Steph (Curry), attacking the rim. He’s putting a lot of pressure on people.”

But this isn’t just about the fact that other teams can’t keep Kuminga out of the paint, he’s been guarding key point-of-attack opponents on defense, and out of nowhere, he leads the team in rebounds, and by a decent bit - though to be fair, Quintin Post outpaces him in rate-based rebounds-per-36.

Kuminga turning himself into a starter sets some baselines. Now, the Warriors have the option to go small with Podz, add Moody or Hield at the wing, or temporarily go to Post or Horford. Once De’Anthony Melton returns, that’s another playmaker to help the machine run.

Of course, all of this starts with the core players and overall team health, but it looks like maybe those mad scientists in the front office have done it again, and the players have worked their way into position to make a little more noise in a league that is still ringing with echoes of a dynasty that isn’t all the way gone just yet.

The Warriors look good again, but they also feel like themselves again. There’s a rhythm to it, a kind of familiar heartbeat underneath all the new faces and wrinkles in the playbook. You can sense it in the way they move, the way the crowd hums before a big Curry three or responds to a taunt or call for noise. The dynasty isn’t gone; it’s just older, smarter, and finding new ways to stay alive. For those of us who’ve been here a while, that’s the part that hits hardest - the reminder that even after all this time, there’s still some magic left in the old spells.

Prediction

I hope to win my company costume party tomorrow. I’m dressing as Gandalf and going as an Excel wizard. It’s just dorky enough to work.

Also, this game is early, so be ready, whatever that means, because this one should be a nail biter - ending (as always) in another Warriors’ victory. WHO guards Curry? I still haven’t seen a great answer for that from the Bucks, not since Jrue left.

1. It’s Shar-Pei. The dog I was thinking of in my head but had to look up.