The Warriors can claw their way back into contention thanks to a surprising strategy

One of the biggest wildcards heading into the 2024-25 season appears to be the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors took big swings this summer, attempting to trade for Paul George and Lauri Markkanen but striking out. To their credit, they did add Deantony Milton, Buddy Hield, and Kyle Lowry, all underrated additions.

Those three moves should help them offset the loss of Klay Thompson and give the Warriors more depth, but they also appear to be banking on the further development of Jonathan Kuminga and especially Brandin Podziemski, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

Podziemski has increasingly been seen as Golden State's best asset and they expect big things from him next season. In fact, they reportedly want him to dramatically increase his number of 3-point attempts next season to between eight and 10 per game.

That would have put in in the top-five in 3-point attempts per game and mirrors the average number of attempts that Thompson got up. His bombing away from outside suggests that he will be given the green light, a rarity for a second-year player on a team with a veteran core that won a championship in the recent past.

The Golden State Warriors are expecting big things from Brandin Podziemski next season.

Podziemski attempting at least nine threes per game and shooting around 37% from deep, in addition to shooting a similar percentage as last year on 2-pointers, would result in him averaging around 15 points per game. That would be a solid scoring increase and hopefully help them offset Thompson's production while getting much younger and cheaper in the process.

Golden States' apparent faith in his ability was likely why they opted to let a franchise legend leave and they were even unwilling to include him in a deal for Markkannen. It is also notable that they seemed more willing to part with Kuminga, which suggests that they feel more strongly about Podziemski's future in Golden State than Kuminga's.

Some of that may come down to cost, with Kuminga wanting a $224 million rookie max extension and probably ending up hitting restricted free agency next summer. Meanwhile, Podziemski is locked up for another three seasons for a combined $12.8 million. Betting on the less expensive player makes sense given their financial limitations and they could keep both if each were to have a big season.

All in all, the Warriors appear to have all the trust in the world in their second-year guard, Podziemski. If they are proven right, then Golden State may have a draft steal on their hands and become a sleeping giant in the Western Conference.