Warriors owner Joe Lacob rolled his eyes and gave a jaw-dropping response that was reminiscent of Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski's breakout success as a rookie last season.
“Honestly, he's been phenomenal,” Lacob said in an interview on NBA TV during the Warriors' Summer League win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
Podziemski was the Warriors' 19th overall pick in last year's NBA Draft. He was expected to develop in the G League and earn NBA playing time as the season progressed, but he far exceeded expectations, earning a spot on the All-Rookie First Team.
The cocky, headstrong guard, who didn't even turn 21 until late February and starred one season at Santa Clara after having 17 DNPs at Illinois, has earned the kind of trust from Warriors coach Steve Kerr that a rookie never gets.
“He started a lot of our games,” Lacob continued. “Steve had a hard time keeping him off the court. I mean, we had to keep him on the court. He's been very good. He does a lot of things well. He's very confident.”
“He's got NBA size and can go anywhere he wants. He can obviously shoot three-pointers, he can drive and he can pass.”
All is well. Lacob spoke every word with conviction. And then the ribbons and bows topped it all off. A citation was presented to all of us during the quiet off-season.
“There's nothing he can't do. We're really excited. We think we've got a future All-Star. We really do,” Lacob concluded.
Lori Watch, Day Something.
Lacob wasn't just smiling about Podziemski as a negotiating tactic between him and Utah Jazz CEO of basketball operations Danny Ainge, who wants appetizer, four-course meal and dessert for himself in the trade to acquire star big man Lauri Markkanen.
Kerr couldn't keep Poziemski off the court. Poziemski is certainly good at some things. The left-hander has emphasized his role as a scorer and shooter all summer. Poziemski then shot 40 percent from the 3-point line in three Summer League games, averaging nearly seven a game.
In his final game of the summer, he finished with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, 4-of-8 3-pointers, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. As he continues to improve his game, it's not hard to imagine him putting up box scores like this in the future.
Podziemski sees it that way. So do the Warriors.
There have also been rumors that the Jazz would prefer Poziemski as their primary trade target in a Markkanen trade, rather than Jonathan Kuminga. Poziemski and Kuminga are the two players the Warriors would most like to retain from their developing young core, but they are also their best assets, and Ainge will surely demand at least one of them up until the final seconds before Markkanen's Aug. 6 contract extension deadline.
Kuminga has felt out of reach for Lacob so far. He was given a bigger role last season and showed plenty of star potential. Lacob saw All-Star potential in the 18-year-old when he drafted him in 2021, and he still does. There's a reason the Warriors are more worried about trading for Podziemski than they are about ultimately letting Kuminga go.
Projection is still a major theme when talking about Kuminga, who played 211 regular-season games and 26 in the playoffs. Outside of Stephen Curry, Kuminga is the most likely player to score 20 points for the Warriors. It's also impossible to know if he'll truly be an outside shooter, and Kerr questioned Kuminga's position in his end-of-season press conference.
The Warriors know what Poziemski is capable of and believe he still has plenty of room to grow and develop. They understand he led the team in plus-minus as a rookie. Manu Ginobili is one of his idols, and that influence will carry over to Poziemski.
Podziemski played 1,968 regular season minutes, averaging 26.6 minutes per game, which is also unusual under Kerr.
For comparison, Kuminga played 1,185 total minutes in his rookie year and averaged 16.9 minutes per game on a winning team that season, which is still more minutes than is typical for a Warriors rookie. No one comes close to Poziemski.
Michael Mulder and Eric Paschall each averaged more minutes than Poziemski as rookies, but both played more total minutes than Poziemski. Mulder was 25 and Paschall was 23, and the Warriors won 15 games in Curry's five-game season.
The only other rookie to match Podziemski's minutes was 19-year-old big man James Wiseman before a season-ending injury, and Kerr and the Warriors regret giving Wiseman so much playing time so early.
Kuminga, who spent three years under Kerr, hasn't averaged as many minutes per game as Poziemski, but Kuminga is currently eligible for an extension on his rookie contract and Poziemski can sign for the cheaper amount of $3.5 million next season.
The Warriors probably can't add both players in a trade, but choosing one of them could give Curry, who is 36 and has two seasons remaining on his current contract, the best second option he's had since Kevin Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets five years ago. It'll be interesting to see how the wait is resolved.
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