As of: 2026-07-18 · Team: GSW · Coach: Steve Kerr · Up: 2026-27 NBA fantasy team index
Roster truth before projection
The NBA team page was checked against the league's 2026 offseason transaction tracker, the ESPN roster, and direct team announcements. They do not describe one clean contract state: NBA.com still displays unrestricted free agents Gary Payton II and Seth Curry, ESPN still displays Draymond Green after he declined his option, and the reported De'Anthony Melton agreement was not yet in the league tracker as an official signing. This desk therefore preserves status instead of silently treating every displayed name as signed.
| Bucket | Players | What the model assumes |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed standard / rookie contracts | Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos, Will Richard, Jimmy Butler III, Moses Moody, Kristaps Porziņģis, Al Horford, Charles Bassey, Yaxel Lendeborg | On the team; Butler and Moody receive zero opening-night minutes because of rehabilitation. |
| Expected but not fully closed | Draymond Green, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Lajae Jones | Green returns on a new contract; Melton's reported two-year agreement closes; Payton returns on a second straight one-year minimum; Jones remains on the roster, with final contract form still to verify. |
| Two-way / developmental carryovers | LJ Cryer, Malevy Leons | Available as injury call-ups; only Cryer receives representative-game minutes. |
| Restricted / rights unresolved | Nate Williams | Zero healthy-rotation minutes until a 2026-27 agreement is documented. |
| Unsigned 2025-26 incumbents | Seth Curry | Zero Warriors games and minutes in the base case; the page includes a conditional return projection. |
| Camp candidates | Nick Boyd, Graham Ike, CJ Gunn, Reese Dixon-Waters, Alex Toohey | Zero NBA minutes in the base case; conditional statistical lines are supplied for deep dynasty monitoring. |
Porziņģis returned on a reported two-year, $40 million contract, Horford re-signed July 6, Bassey re-signed July 9, and first-round pick Lendeborg signed his rookie contract. Melton reportedly agreed to a two-year, $11 million deal with a player option. Quinten Post is not projected: Golden State declined to match his three-year Memphis offer, a decision reporting tied to preserving the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (NBC Sports Bay Area, July). ESPN's Anthony Slater reported July 10 that the Warriors and Payton hold mutual interest in a seventh season together on another one-year veteran minimum, a roughly $2.4 million cap hit; that report is the basis for treating him as an expected return rather than a zero.
Correction 2026-07-18: Payton was previously modelled at zero Warriors games alongside Seth Curry. He is moved to the expected-return bucket and given base-case minutes on the strength of Slater's July 10 mutual-interest report, which is the same class of evidence the desk already accepted for Green and Melton. No equivalent report exists for Seth Curry, who stays at zero.
Depth chart
This is the opening-night, injury-adjusted depth chart. It assumes Green and Melton return, Butler and Moody are unavailable, and no major late-summer acquisition displaces the current group.
| Position | First unit | Second unit | Emergency / contingent |
|---|---|---|---|
| PG | Stephen Curry | Brandin Podziemski | LJ Cryer, De'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II* |
| SG | Brandin Podziemski | De'Anthony Melton | Gary Payton II, Will Richard, Moses Moody†, Seth Curry |
| SF | Gui Santos | Will Richard | Gary Payton II*, Yaxel Lendeborg, Lajae Jones, Moses Moody†, Jimmy Butler III† |
| PF | Draymond Green* | Yaxel Lendeborg | Gui Santos, Malevy Leons |
| C | Kristaps Porziņģis | Al Horford | Charles Bassey |
* unsigned in the base roster snapshot; Green and Payton are explicit expected-return assumptions, while Seth is not.
† major knee rehabilitation; no opening-night minutes are assigned.
Exact 240 regulation minutes
The table allocates every position's 48 minutes and therefore sums to exactly 240. It describes one representative competitive game, not simultaneous season-long averages for every rostered player.
| Position | Allocation | Position total |
|---|---|---|
| PG | Curry 30, Podziemski 10, Melton 4, Payton 2, Cryer 2 | 48 |
| SG | Podziemski 22, Melton 18, Payton 6, Richard 2 | 48 |
| SF | Santos 27, Richard 9, Lendeborg 6, Payton 4, Jones 2 | 48 |
| PF | Green 28, Lendeborg 20 | 48 |
| C | Porziņģis 26, Horford 18, Bassey 4 | 48 |
| Total | 240 |
Correction 2026-07-18: Payton's twelve minutes are new, funded entirely from the perimeter — Melton 28 to 22, Richard 15 to 11, Cryer 4 to 2. Nothing was taken from Santos, Lendeborg, or the centre rotation, because Payton's minimum-salary role is a point-of-attack defensive substitution, not a wing-forward one. The table still sums to 240.
If Green does not return, the model does not simply promote one replacement into 28 minutes: Lendeborg, Santos, Horford, Bassey, and a still-unfilled standard roster spot would share the work. When Butler returns, his ramp principally removes wing minutes from Santos, Richard, and Lendeborg. Moody's eventual return would pressure Richard, Jones, and the two-way guards.
2026-27 player projections
These are this encyclopedia's medians, not copied vendor projections. Percentage columns are projected per-game ratios; the remaining nine-category columns are per-game. “Active min” is the representative rotation above. Conditional lines for unsigned and camp players describe the role only if they join the NBA roster.
| Player | Status / role | Active min | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | Points | Dynasty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Curry | confirmed; lead creator | 30 | 52 | 30.5 | .462 | .920 | 4.1 | 25.2 | 3.7 | 5.2 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.8 | A- | 5.5/10 |
| Brandin Podziemski | confirmed; starting combo guard | 32 | 76 | 32.0 | .452 | .802 | 2.3 | 16.1 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.9 | B+ | 8.0/10 |
| De'Anthony Melton | reported agreement; two-way guard | 22 | 62 | 24.0 | .418 | .820 | 1.7 | 11.3 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | B- | 6.0/10 |
| Gui Santos | confirmed; opening-night wing | 27 | 72 | 27.0 | .480 | .755 | 1.6 | 13.2 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.8 | B- | 7.0/10 |
| Yaxel Lendeborg | confirmed; rookie forward | 26 | 73 | 25.5 | .468 | .780 | 1.2 | 10.8 | 6.2 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.6 | B- | 8.5/10 |
| Draymond Green | expected-return UFA; defensive hub | 28 | 62 | 27.0 | .430 | .710 | 1.2 | 7.9 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.6 | B- | 4.0/10 |
| Kristaps Porziņģis | confirmed; starting center | 26 | 54 | 25.5 | .452 | .850 | 2.1 | 18.0 | 6.2 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.4 | B+ | 6.0/10 |
| Al Horford | confirmed; reserve center | 18 | 50 | 18.0 | .440 | .820 | 1.2 | 6.7 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | C- | 2.5/10 |
| Will Richard | confirmed; reserve wing | 11 | 67 | 13.0 | .450 | .820 | 0.8 | 5.1 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.6 | D+ | 5.5/10 |
| Gary Payton II | expected-return UFA; defensive guard | 12 | 64 | 13.0 | .580 | .670 | 0.3 | 5.8 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.6 | D+ | 2.0/10 |
| Charles Bassey | confirmed; third center | 4 | 43 | 9.0 | .620 | .700 | 0.0 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | D+ | 4.0/10 |
| LJ Cryer | two-way; emergency guard | 2 | 24 | 8.0 | .410 | .880 | 1.0 | 4.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | D | 3.0/10 |
| Lajae Jones | current roster; developmental wing | 2 | 35 | 8.0 | .425 | .730 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | D | 6.0/10 |
| Malevy Leons | two-way carryover; forward | 0 | 22 | 7.0* | .440 | .780 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | D | 4.0/10 |
| Jimmy Butler III | confirmed; ACL rehabilitation | 0 | 30 | 27.5 | .480 | .835 | 0.5 | 16.4 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.8 | B | 3.5/10 |
| Moses Moody | confirmed; patellar-tendon rehabilitation | 0 | 10 | 18.0 | .430 | .780 | 1.4 | 7.8 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | C- | 5.0/10 |
| Nate Williams | rights unresolved | 0 | 0; 18† | 0; 7.0† | .470 | .820 | 0.4 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | E | 2.5/10 |
| Seth Curry | unrestricted free agent | 0 | 0; 35† | 0; 11.0† | .475 | .900 | 1.1 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 | D | 1.5/10 |
| Alex Toohey | Summer League / camp watch | 0 | 0; 18† | 0; 7.0† | .420 | .720 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | E | 4.5/10 |
| Nick Boyd | reported Exhibit 10 | 0 | 0; 12† | 0; 6.0† | .400 | .780 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | E | 3.0/10 |
| Graham Ike | reported Exhibit 10 | 0 | 0; 18† | 0; 7.0† | .540 | .760 | 0.1 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.6 | E | 3.5/10 |
| CJ Gunn | undrafted; reported Exhibit 10 | 0 | 0; 12† | 0; 6.0† | .400 | .750 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | E | 3.0/10 |
| Reese Dixon-Waters | reported camp / summer candidate | 0 | 0; 10† | 0; 5.0† | .410 | .760 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | E | 3.0/10 |
| Rotation total | 240 |
* Appearance MPG when activated; zero in the representative healthy rotation.
† First number is the Warriors base case; second is a conditional appearance projection if signed or converted. The 9-cat line is conditional and must not be read as a forecast that the player makes the roster.
Points grades are format-neutral because platform equations vary. Dynasty scores represent market usefulness, not projected 2026-27 category rank.
Fantasy hierarchy
- Early rounds: Curry still has first-round per-game mechanisms—four-plus threes, strong scoring and elite FT impact—but 52 projected games and recurring right-knee risk push his totals median into the third-to-fifth-round range. Porziņģis can return top-40 per-game value through threes, blocks, and FT%, but neither his health nor his minutes support an aggressive totals assumption.
- Middle rounds: Podziemski is the safest minutes bet and gains in points formats. Melton is the roster's steals specialist. Lendeborg has the broadest rookie category shape, but summer production should not be mistaken for a proven NBA shooting baseline.
- Late rounds: Santos has the cleanest October role bargain; Green remains build-dependent because assists and stocks come with low points and weak FT impact. Horford, Richard, and Bassey are specialist streaming options rather than standard-league draft priorities.
- Injured reserve: Butler's per-game line can matter after return, but a 30-game median is far more important than name value. Moody is a deep-IL dynasty hold after a ruptured patellar tendon; the model allows only ten late-season games.
Correction 2026-07-18: the Moody specialist range is corrected from six-to-twelve months to nine-to-twelve, per Dr. Nirav Pandya (UCSF) via Heavy. The ten-game median is therefore reclassified from conservative to realistic: nine months from March 28 surgery is late December, so a post-All-Star handful of games is the centre of the distribution, not the pessimistic tail. Zero games remains a live branch.
Public rankings disagree dramatically. A July 18 Dynatyze board had Curry 56th; an early Reddit nine-category exercise placed him 27th; a live RealTime Fantasy Sports ADP sheet showed 23.36. SI's June list ranked Porziņģis 44th. FantasyPros' Podziemski page showed ECR 44 with a 29-75 range, but its season labeling was ambiguous when accessed, so it is a volatility signal rather than a clean consensus point.
Health and role pressure points
- Butler tore his right ACL on January 19 and underwent surgery February 10 (NBA.com medical report). Team reporting in June said the Warriors were building around a midseason return, not an opening-night return (San Francisco Chronicle).
- Moody ruptured his left patellar tendon March 23 and underwent surgery March 28 (NBA.com). Dr. Nirav Pandya, professor of orthopedic surgery and director of pediatric sports medicine at UCSF, put return-to-play timelines for a patellar-tendon rupture at nine to twelve months, and added that the first year or two back is typically played below prior level (Heavy). From a March 28 surgery that is a late-December 2026 floor and a late-March 2027 upper bound, with substantial career-level uncertainty on top (San Francisco Chronicle).
- Curry missed a long 2025-26 stretch with patellofemoral pain in his right knee; the league reported continued absence after a March reevaluation (NBA.com). His 43-game season is the central team-outcome variable.
- Porziņģis played only 32 total games and missed another March stretch with illness (NBA.com). Horford should absorb planned center rest rather than coexist at heavy minutes every night.
- Green declined his $27.7 million player option. Multiple reports expected a lower-salary multiyear return, but no completed agreement was located by the cutoff.
Rookie and development signals
Lendeborg's 2025-26 Michigan line—15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.2 blocks, .515 FG, .372 from three, and .824 FT—supports a rare multi-category rookie pathway (Sports Reference). The Warriors selected him 11th, while Jones went 54th (official draft profile). Lendeborg then produced 19/5/6 on perfect shooting in the California Classic (NBA.com recap) and 21 points in his Las Vegas opener (NBA.com recap). Those games strengthen the “rotation-ready” case but remain low-weight NBA projection evidence.
Jones averaged 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks at Florida State, with .427 FG and .325 from three (ESPN college statistics). His defensive event rates are more fantasy-interesting than his current offensive polish.
The official Las Vegas Summer League roster also included Jack Clark, Max Shulga, KJ Adams, Colby Jones, Deivon Smith, Jacksen Moni, Chase Hunter, Lachlan Olbrich, and Chance McMillian. They are event participants, not assumed NBA roster players, because this pass did not locate a standard, two-way, or Exhibit 10 agreement for them. This distinction prevents a Summer League jersey from becoming a fictitious 2026-27 roster claim.
Team outcome range
Golden State finished 37-45 and lost in the play-in; the league's draft profile explicitly tied the downturn to Curry's knee and the long-term Butler/Moody injuries (NBA.com). The July betting market was unsettled: a community-posted FanDuel board showed 40.5, while an earlier market page displayed 43.5 (TheLines). The model treats 40-42 wins as the middle, not a promise.
- Median: 41-41. Curry plays about 52 games, Green returns, Porziņģis supplies 54 games, Butler becomes a useful January/February reinforcement, and Lendeborg is rotation-ready.
- Ceiling: 47-50 wins. Curry and Porziņģis beat availability medians, Butler returns before midseason at near-normal two-way impact, and Podziemski/Lendeborg make real development leaps.
- Floor: 28-32 wins. Curry's knee recurs, Green negotiations fail or the veteran core is reoriented, Porziņģis misses another large block, and Butler/Moody provide little or nothing.
Open transaction risk
Everything above assumes the roster closes as constituted. At the July 18 cutoff it had not, and the open item is specific enough to name.
- LeBron James. James told the Lakers he would play elsewhere in 2026-27 (NBA.com) and Golden State has been an active suitor since free agency opened, able to offer the $15 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The desk's earlier framing of an unnamed "major late-summer acquisition" is this. Preserving that exception is the reported reason Golden State declined to match Quinten Post's Memphis offer sheet (NBC Sports Bay Area), and Hoops Rumors noted the club may still need to move Moody's $12.5 million to reach the full non-taxpayer figure rather than the $6.1 million taxpayer version (Hoops Rumors, June 30). Update 2026-07-19: ESPN reporting on July 18 cooled this pursuit — Dave McMenamin called Golden State "more of a remote possibility than maybe we would have said a week ago" and Marc J. Spears said the Warriors acknowledge being a long shot, even as prediction-market pricing still had them narrowly favored; treat the signing branch below as less likely than the market implies. (Yahoo live tracker, July 18 updates)
- Where it actually stands. As of July 14 Shams Charania reported James's attention had narrowed to Cleveland, Miami, and Philadelphia, with Golden State and Minnesota technically alive but no longer the focus (NBC Sports Bay Area); a July 15 beat survey described the front office as cautiously optimistic and waiting (SF Standard). Treat a James signing as a live but minority outcome. If it happens, it consumes the open standard spot and compresses wing minutes for Santos, Richard, and Lendeborg first.
- Anthony Davis, and why Butler is not priced as a trade risk here. Late-June reporting had Golden State exploring a Davis trade from Washington, which would have required Butler's $56.8 million expiring salary as the match (NBC Sports Bay Area, June 29). That line has since been walked back from three directions: ESPN's Windhorst said there was no data suggesting it was likely, the Warriors told Butler they were not trading him, Butler's agent publicly denied the speculation, and Wizards GM Will Dawkins said Davis wants to stay in Washington. The deal was in any case contingent on James signing. The desk therefore keeps Butler's 30-game return projection as a Warriors line and does not discount it for trade probability.
Projection swing map
| Event | Main fantasy winners | Main losers |
|---|---|---|
| Green does not return | Lendeborg, Santos, Horford, Bassey | Curry's efficiency; team defense |
| Butler returns early and handles 30 MPG | Butler, Curry efficiency | Santos, Richard, Lendeborg wing minutes |
| Butler return slips past February | Santos, Podziemski, Lendeborg | Butler totals |
| Curry misses 30+ games again | Podziemski assists/usage, Melton, Cryer | Curry totals; all finishers' efficiency |
| Porziņģis plays fewer than 45 games | Horford, Bassey, Lendeborg small-ball center minutes | Porziņģis totals |
| Moody is cleared before the All-Star break (optimistic edge of the 9-12 month range) | Moody | Richard, Jones, deep guards |
| LeBron James signs with the non-taxpayer MLE | Curry, Porziņģis efficiency; team win total | Santos, Lendeborg, Richard are most exposed |
| Payton's reported minimum deal does not close | Melton, Richard, Cryer recover the twelve minutes | Warriors point-of-attack defense |
Web, video, podcast, and social radar
The evidence pass checked official NBA/team pages first, then the Chronicle, ESPN, fantasy boards, video/podcast feeds, Reddit, and social accounts. Useful qualitative leads included the June Game Theory Warriors offseason preview, the Warriors Plus Minus podcast feed, NBA.com's Lendeborg shooting clip, a current community depth-chart discussion, and the user-supplied Alex Barutha post, Ethos Fantasy NBA, Dynatyze, and RotoWire NBA feeds. Social and Reddit claims were treated as leads or sentiment unless corroborated by a primary source.
Sources checked
- NBA Warriors team page, ESPN roster, and Warriors offseason tracker, accessed 2026-07-18.
- NBA 2026 offseason deals tracker, updated July 16 and accessed July 18.
- Official 2026 Warriors draft profile, June 2026.
- San Francisco Chronicle projected depth chart after the Porziņģis deal, July 7.
- ESPN 2025-26 Warriors statistics, accessed July 18; individual pages are linked in the dossiers.
- Basketball Reference 2025-26 Warriors, accessed July 18.
Open questions
- What is Green's final contract, and does it contain incentives or options that affect the team's direction?
- When do the Warriors officially execute Melton's reported agreement and disclose Jones's contract form?
- Are Butler and Moody cleared for on-court work by camp, and what are their first credible return windows?
- Can Curry tolerate a normal camp and two-game sets after the 2025-26 right-knee episode?
- Does Lendeborg start immediately, and is his NBA three-point volume closer to the guarded or unguarded college sample?
- Which two-way and final standard spots survive camp, and do Payton or Seth Curry return?
- Does Golden State make the major roster addition it was still pursuing in July?