Player grades: Warriors vs. Jazz

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance from the team’s 127-86 win over Utah.

The Golden State Warriors kept the early-season good times rolling on Friday night, one-upping their Wednesday beatdown of the Portland Trail Blazers with a one-sided smackdown of the Utah Jazz, taking home a 127-86 victory and a perfect 2-0 road trip to start the season. It’s a good time to be a Warriors fan!

So let’s get to grading the happy times. As always, these grades are based on my expectation for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that individual player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Last year, league-average TS was 58.0%.

Draymond Green

20 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 37.5% TS, +12

Draymond’s stat line isn’t very good. So I’m going to give you another stat line to look at instead.

27 minutes, 13 points, 4-for-17 shooting, -17

That’s the stat line for Warriors offseason target Lauri Markkanen. Everyone who took turns guarding Markkanen did a swell job, but no one did better than the player who drew the initial assignment, Green. Markkanen simply never got into a groove, and looked uncomfortable all night long. For that alone, it was a good night for Dray, even though the rest of the stuff didn’t go all that well.

Grade: B

Jonathan Kuminga

18 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 20.0% TS, +8

Steve Kerr is not going to overreact to bad things after two games. And he’s definitely not going to do so after the Warriors won those two games by a combined 77 points.

But the controversial starting lineup has been the closest thing the Warriors have to a weakness through the opening pair of games, and Kuminga has pretty clearly been the weakest link in it. The unit is struggling with spacing, and Kuminga isn’t getting the transition opportunities or cutting layups that he had so many of in the preseason.

It’s way too soon to panic, but whether it’s what he’s doing or the design of the lineup, Kuminga just isn’t playing well right now.

Grade: D
Post-game bonus: Tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.

Trayce Jackson-Davis

17 minutes, 12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 6-for-6 shooting, 100.0% TS, +12

In case you didn’t watch the game and missed Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike riffing on it, TJD has yet to miss a shot this season. He’s a perfect 11-for-11 from the field, though an awful (by comparison only) 4-for-5 from the charity stripe.

He got a lot of his buckets in this game by hustling. He got a lot of rebounds by hustling, too, as he gobbled up nine of them in just 17 minutes.

The Warriors still have things to figure out on offense in the starting unit, but the spacing issue is at least softened by Jackson-Davis’ phenomenal rim-running game.

Andrew Wiggins

23 minutes, 10 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 46.0% TS, +17

One of the biggest storylines for the Warriors coming into this season was Wiggins’ performance. Is he the player he was in 2021-22, when he dominated on defense and the glass in the NBA Finals and was an All-Star starter? Is he the player he was in 2022-23, when he took a sizable step backwards? Or is he the player he was in 2023-24, when he was quite arguably one of the worst rotation players in the NBA?

The early returns are in, and they look fantastic. Wiggins was athletic and energetic in this game, flying all over the court for defensive help, deflections, loose balls, and rebounds. He played with composed urgency, didn’t stagnate the ball, and couldn’t be stopped on the glass.

That’s the Wiggins who can take this team to a different level.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Steph Curry

27 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 7-for-20 shooting, 4-for-13 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 47.9% TS, +22

Not the best night for Curry, but he continues to do an excellent job of putting his teammates in position to succeed, so that they can start the year strong. That will come back to help him down the road.

But really, just not a ton to talk about for The Chef here. He didn’t do anything too noteworthy, and struggled with his shot. His gravity still makes him one of the most valuable players on the court though, even if it wasn’t his best performance.

Grade: C

Kevon Looney

13 minutes, 9 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 4-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 65.4% TS, +12

Buddy Hield will justifiably get the credit for helping the Warriors finding their rhythm in the first half after a slow start. But Looney sure deserves a whole bunch of credit, too.

The Warriors looked like a different team — a tougher team — as soon as Looney stepped on the court. He played stubbornly, refusing to let Jazz players score, and refusing to let missed shots not be grabbed. It was a gritty performance, and one the Warriors needed.

Grade: A

Lindy Waters III

7 minutes, 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2-for-3 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 100.0% TS, +11

Thanks to the Warriors not having had a single competitive minute in a fourth quarter this year, we’ve gotten to see Waters play a bit, even though he’s outside of the rotation. He showed off in the preseason, and he’s showed off so far to start the year. It remains fairly clear that when he gets the chance in a more meaningful moment, he’ll be ready for it.

Grade: A

Gui Santos

6 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, +9

Santos, the other rostered player who isn’t currently in the rotation, has also gotten some valuable playing time. He’s still learning and adapting to the NBA game, so these are valuable reps for him.

Grade: B-

Kyle Anderson

18 minutes, 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3-for-7 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 50.0% TS, +18

My overwhelming takeaway from two games of watching Anderson on the Warriors is that it’s just an absolute delight having players who do almost everything right on the court. Sure, Slo Mo might not fill up the box score, and yeah, he might have a somewhat unsightly jumper.

But he barely ever does anything that makes you think, “why did he do that?” He never makes you want to pull your hair out. He’s always right there where the loose ball is, or the rebound is, or the pass is. He just is such an intelligent and heady player.

Grade: A-

Buddy Hield

20 minutes, 27 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 10-for-14 shooting, 7-for-9 threes, 96.4% TS, +24

And here we are. The star of the show. When Hield entered the game, the Warriors were struggling. From the point he checked in until the final buzzer, they did not struggle again.

He was thoroughly dominant, knocking in 24 points in the first half — by the time he checked in for the second half, the outcome was already determined.

Hield proved that he can be an electric scorer in this system, which the Warriors have desperately been searching for. But just as importantly, he proved that he can impact the game in other ways. Even though it felt like he scored every time he touched the ball, he also dished six assists without turning the ball over. He pushed the ball in transition, played good defense, and crashed the glass.

Just greatness all around.

Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and assists, tied for the highest plus/minus on the team.

Gary Payton II

13 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 66.7% TS, +10

Three steals in 13 minutes. There’s rarely a game where Payton gets into the action and doesn’t noticeably impact the defense. What a luxury to have a 12-man rotation, where GPII can be deployed in short bursts to absolutely torment opposing offenses.

Grade: B+

De’Anthony Melton

14 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 0.0% TS, +8

It’s been a slow start to his Warriors tenure for Melton, but that’s nothing to be concerned about. He’s more than proven.

He did a lot of good things in this game, keeping the ball movement and moving without the ball, and directing the defense. But he struggled to score, had a few turnovers, and worst of all, nearly fouled out in just 14 minutes of action.

Grade: D+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.

Moses Moody

19 minutes, 12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 5-for-10 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 60.0% TS, +18

Moody might be the 12th of the 12 players in the rotation to get in the game on any given night, but you’d be hard pressed to make an argument that he’s the 12th-most important player on the team … and his minutes sure aren’t 12th, either, though he’s getting some of them in garbage time since the Dubs don’t have enough non-rotational players to field a garbage time unit.

His excellent preseason has carried over into the regular season. He’s shooting more than ever, and aggressive, but with purpose. His defense remains strong, and even though he had two turnovers in this game, he rarely makes poor plays.

He just keeps getting better and better.

Grade: B+

Brandin Podziemski

24 minutes, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 fouls, 7-for-14 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 53.6% TS, +24

After putting up a donut in the season opener, Podziemski bounced back with 15 points in this game … and once again led the team in plus/minus. A young guard playing 24 minutes without turning the ball over is a fairly special thing, and Podz has continued his trend of simply making good things happen on the court … on both ends.

Perhaps most importantly, the speed of the team just skyrockets whenever he enters the game. It feels like every possession is a transition opportunity for Podziemski, and it opens up so much for his teammates.

Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.

Friday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, Quinten Post, Pat Spencer