The Warriors’ starting lineup of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney averages nearly 32 years old. On the other side, the Warriors were looking at the days of yore playing the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night at Paycom Center.
Down 25-year-old star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder’s starting five of Josh Giddey, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren roughly averages 21-and-a-half years old. The group features two 21-year-olds, a 22-year-old, a 24-year-old and a 19-year-old rookie.
Though the Warriors gutted out a thrilling last-second 141-139 win on 35-year-old Steph Curry’s underhand finish over the 7-foot-1 Holmgren, the Thunder for the majority of the game looked like a team who had more energy and fresher legs. And Green after the win gave an eye-opening possibility of why that might have been.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Green, 32, could feel the absences of rookies Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis, as well as second-year pro Lester Quinones.
“I also think our young fellas not being here, Trayce and BP and Lester, the energy that they bring to this team – we missed that,” Green said to reporters in Oklahoma City. “Next time we have an In-Season Tournament game, we need those guys here, because they bring a lot of juice for us.
“You always talk about young guys bringing energy. That’s their job. But we don’t have to tell those guys to bring energy. They do every single day. I wasn’t overly shocked our energy wasn’t there because they are the guys that lift our energy level and they weren’t here.”
Golden State Warriors
Podziemski, 20, and Jackson-Davis, 23, were assigned to the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz earlier Friday. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in his pregame press conference the reasoning was because the next few days begin training camp for Santa Cruz, and the two rookies would be able to get a ton of drill work and time in scrimmages.
Neither have been mainstays in the Warriors’ rotation thus far.
Podziemski, the Warriors’ first-round pick, made his NBA debut Monday in a blowout win against the New Orleans Pelicans and was a plus-15 in 23 minutes with five points, eight rebounds and two assists. Jackson-Davis, taken No. 57 overall, has appeared in two games this season and also was given his biggest opportunity in the Big Easy. The Indiana product played 20 minutes against the Pelicans and was a plus-11 with 13 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
Golden State still has three games remaining on its current four-game road trip, starting Sunday in Cleveland, and Green made it clear he wants his rookies back on the bench in a hurry.
“One thousand percent,” Green said. “Absolutely. We need them here. They’re a big part of the fabric of this team, so we missed them tonight.”