Brandin Podziemski Talks About New Role Following Klay Thompson and Chris Paul Moves

The Golden State Warriors recently recorded their 6th straight victory in this year’s Summer League Tournament after the Dubs took care of the Cleveland Cavaliers with a scoreline of 96-85, at COX Pavilion in Las Vegas. The team was without its Summer League star, Brandin Podziemski and it appears to be the case that the franchise has shut down Podz and Trayce Jackson-Davis for the remainder of the tournament. With Podziemski out of rotation, the 21-year-old found time to talk to the media about his role with the San Francisco franchise going forward.

Brandin Podziemski was coming off back-to-back, double-double performances when the Warriors pulled the plug on his Summer League experience. The reason for doing so most probably had to do with injury concerns. And with CP3 and Klay gone, the Warriors can’t possibly risk a season-ending injury to their youngest star. So while the 6’4 guard cheered his team on from the sidelines, media members decided to question the young guard about his goals for his second season with the Warriors franchise. The 21-year-old obliged, and answered the media’s queries by saying,

“Scoring the ball. It sounds pretty simple but I think I can help Steph, without Klay now, without Chris, I think I can pick up that kinda slack there.”

But Podziemski’s optimism wasn’t only limited to his game as he sang praises about the strides that the team’s young players were making and was sure that the veterans would do their bit to bring their game up a few notches. He further added,

“I know all our young guys are going to get better, including our vets. So everyone’s role is going to increase with them gone…”

But when talking about the Warrior’s future, Podziemski was humble enough to admit that he had a lot more to learn and acknowledged that after his First Team All-Rookie selection only made things tougher due to a rise in expectations. Podz also added,

“…and for me, there comes some expectations after being First Team All-Rookie. For me, I want to live up to or exceed those expectations.”

Podziemski is starting to look like a veteran in just his second season in the league. Even the top brass in the organization have taken notice of Podziemski’s poise and growth and seem to be very excited about Podziemski’s potential going forward. In fact, Warriors owner Joe Lacob even crowed the sophomore as a future All-Star in a recent interview, adding that,

“He [Brandin Podzemski] was a revelation, to be quite honest. I mean, he’s one of the, what, All-Rookie Team, top-five in the league? He started a whole bunch of games for us. Steve [Kerr] had trouble getting him off the floor. I mean, he had to have him on the floor, he was so good.”

While Podziemski’s name keeps popping up in trade rumors, the Warriors have made it abundantly clear that the sophomore is not someone they are ready to let go of easily. The franchise has time and again even mentioned that Podziemski could be the team’s future and want to invest in him. As of now, it’s not clear what the future is going to look like for either party, but out of all the guard options the Dubs have, Podziemski looks like the only one poised to take over from Curry when the 36-year-old becomes ready to pass the torch.