There is competition across the board – Steve Kerr on GSW’s starting five

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has revealed that there will be competition for the starting five line-up for the upcoming season of the NBA. Kerr said that except for Steph Curry, all the other four places are up for grabs.

With Klay Thompson moving to the Dallas Mavericks, it will be interesting to note the Dubs’ combination for the forthcoming edition.

“There is competition across the board,” Kerr said Tuesday following the Warriors’ first session at BYU Hawai’i’s campus as quoted by ESPN. “It’s not as simple as, ‘Who is going to be the 2?’ It’s got to be — ‘Who is going to be the 5? Who’s the 4?’ We know that Steph is the 1. But what’s the combination?”

Kerr added that not only the starting five will have a crucial role but also the bench of the team will hold the key.

“The starting lineup is going to have to be dependent, not only on the first five fitting, but the second fitting as well,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to figure out lineups. All the guys can do is compete, play their ass off.”

In defense, there will be competition between Brandin Podziemski, De’Anthony Melton, and Buddy Hield. 

“We have a defensive-minded guy like Melton. You’ve got a guy who’s a connector and can put the ball on the floor, create like BP, and obviously me and BP started a couple times last year,” Curry said. “You’ve got Buddy who can shoot, who spaces the floor and is a veteran. We’ve got a lot of options.”

Kerr backed Andrew Wiggins to be the second-highest scorer for the team after Steph Curry.

“I want Wigs shooting six, seven 3s,” Kerr said. “I want Brandin, I want Moses, I want De’Anthony — I want to be a high-volume shooting team. I think that’s important to us. The big shift is Klay is not here. So we were fourth in the league in 3-point attempts last year, but Klay probably shot eight to 10 of them, so we’re going to have to fill that void. That will come from multiple people.”

Warriors will begin their NBA 2024-25 campaign against Portland Trail Blazers.