"I’m 100% confident that we can win. ": Brandin Podziemski on Warriors' championship hopes, Valkyries involvement and more (EXCLUSIVE)

For the Golden State Warriors to return to championship form, they can’t just bank on Stephen Curry’s shooting, Jimmy Butler’s scoring and Draymond Green’s defense.

They will have to lean on another formula that became a secondary reason for their dynastic run that included four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) in six Finals appearances (2015, 2016, 2017-2019, 2022). They will have to develop enough “Strength in numbers”

While Curry remains both the face of the franchise and the NBA itself, third-year guard Brandin Podziemski could become the face of their other identity that centered on dependable and selfless role players

“This is the year where he takes another step,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Podziemski.

After the Warriors selected Podziemski with the No. 19 pick in 2023, Podziemski impressed them enough with his scrappy play, outside shooting and defensive intensity that he eventually took Klay Thompson’s role once he left for the Dallas Mavericks last summer via sign-and-trade. Following Butler’s arrival last season ahead of the trade, Podziemski adjusted seamlessly with both Butler and Curry on the floor.

Despite averaging a career-high 11.7 points last season, however, Podziemski showed a mixed playoff performance through the Warriors seven-game first-round series win over the Houston Rockets and five-game second-round series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He shot at least 50% in only two playoff games and shot below 40% in seven others.

That prompted Kerr to call on Podziemski to improve his consistency with his shooting, his aggressiveness and maintaining his cool with officials when calls don’t go his way.

“To be able to get through that crucible where you’re in the starting lineup, you’re in the playoffs, spotlight’s on you, you have a few bad shooting nights,” Kerr said. “Every player goes through that. He's a tough guy and a tough player. I just think that he’s on a very natural progression to continue his improvement.”

Podziemski spoke to Sportskeeda about his progression with his play and emotions as well as other topics. That included the Curry-Butler dynamic, Jonathan Kuminga’s return and his fandom for the WNBA’s Valkyries.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

What did your offseason prep look like?

Podziemski: “It wasn’t too different than the last. I had surgeries to get my body ready and go from there (core muscle and left wrist). On August 1st, I was able to return to the court. So I have been at it for about eight weeks now.”

What were the highlights with Jimmy’s get together in San Diego?

Podziemski: “It was great. It was a great team experience and great bonding. I appreciate Jimmy for hosting that. Basketball aside, it was a great experience just to get to know one another on a personal level with the new guys and stuff like that. So it’s been great learning more about Jimmy and learning more about us. That was big time.”

What are the things that you learned?

Podziemski: “I think it’s just more about things that are as simple as, ‘What makes you happy? What do you enjoy outside of basketball?’ We’re learning those things so in the future going forward, things like that can come up and we can do more of those things together that people can enjoy.”

What are some examples?

Podziemski: “Playing simple games like dominoes, board games, blackjack, poker. Those are all things in common that we like to do. So we’re trying to share those experiences with each other.”

What’s Jimmy like as a host?

Podziemski: “Jimmy is great. He’s first class with everything from food, wine, you name it. It was great. He had his Bigface Coffee there, too. It was solid. I tried it and it was really solid. I gave him an A-plus for one.”

How do you evaluate your game last season?

Podziemski: “I think in totality, being in the playoffs for 12 games, it really just showed me what areas of my game that I need to improve on the most. Obviously in my first year, I didn’t get to experience playoff basketball. So to experience the 12 games, teams are really locking in on your weaknesses. That becomes a focal point. So that really helps you going into that summer what I struggled with it, why did I struggle with it and how can I progress forward. I think that helped me progress in terms of what I need to do this year to get better. I know and Steve knows how much time and effort I have put in. I know it. So I think you all will see this season.”

What were you trying to address this offseason?

Podziemski: “It’s a multitude of things. How can I be a better defender? How can I play next to Steph? He’s facing great defenders, so how can I help him out? How can I be more efficient and more assertive? All of those kinds of things.”

You and Steve talked at Media Day about how to improve your emotions with the refs. But he also mentioned your need to handle those swings after tough nights. How do you do that?

Podziemski: “I understand now that there are going to be good nights and there are going to be bad nights. I also know how much importance of a role that I play and how important that is and how my emotions can affect the team in both a positive and negative way. So I’m always being mindful of that. I understand there are going to be good days. There are going to be bad days. But the more consistent I am like Steph and like Jimmy, the more productive and the more good days that you have. So I’ll continue on that path.”

What is the key to do that without compromising your competitive edge?

Podziemski: “I think it’s just honestly about leaving the past in the past and controlling what you can control. You can’t change past outcomes. You just look at it, learn from it and move forward. It’s as simple as that it was just a play ago. Focus on the next play. It’s about having that mentality and not dwelling on it and letting it have a domino effect. I think that’s the key.”

What was it like to have JK back in the mix?

Podziemski: “It was great. We’re all happy to have him back. It’s going to be a great year. He’s hungry to help us win a championship, as are all of us. So it was great to see his face again.”

You said before you were just focused on what’s going on between the lines. But from teammate to teammate, how did you process the uncertainty this summer on whether Kuminga would be back or not?

Podziemski: “I didn’t really give it much thought. I know at the end of the day that he’s a professional and the front office are professionals at what they do. So something would get figured out. But our job as players is to think that whatever we have in the room to work with is what we’re going to work with, and that’s how we go from there. That’s the mindset that we have as always.”

You and other players’ messaging in recent days have been about separating the business part and the basketball part. Why do you think you and your teammates are able to think that way?

Podziemski: “It’s very simple. You just keep business as business. You keep basketball as basketball. When we’re on the floor together, none of the business matters. It’s just basketball. That’s it.”

Jimmy obviously made an immediate impact last season. But why do you think you were able to adjust playing around Steph and Jimmy so quickly?

Podziemski: “I think the key in playing with any good player is not always deferring to them. Obviously, they are getting older now: Steph, Jimmy and Draymond. You can’t just give them the ball all the time and say, ‘Here, you do it.’ So it’s a healthy balance of understanding who you’re playing with, but also understanding that you’re a professional too. The good thing about them is they encourage the rest of us to be assertive, be aggressive and not always rely on them. That always helps, too.”

What did you see Jimmy and Steph do to bring out the best in each other?

Podziemski: “Just competitiveness and wanting to win. Jimmy hasn’t won a championship. That’s the reason why he came here. Steph and Draymond have won with their four titles already. So just to see their buy-in with each other and with the group, they did whatever it took to win games. That’s really all that matters. Numbers didn’t matter. No one cared as long as we came up with a win.”

Even though they made an immediate impact already, how do you expect they will build off of that now that they have a training camp and a full season?

Podziemski: “Just win a lot. Look at our record when we got Jimmy. We won a lot. When we had everybody in the playoffs, we won a lot. So that’s how the front office views it, too. We won a lot with this group, so why change it? Obviously, we added some pieces and that will be great. But we all expect ourselves to win. (Editor’s note: The Warriors went 22-5 in the regular season, 1-0 in the Play-In tournament and 4-3 in the playoffs when both Butler and Curry played].

You all added Al Horford, Seth Curry and De’Anthony Melton. What do you think the integration process will be like?

Podziemski: “I think it’s pretty seamless. They’re great people. There’s a complete buy-in. They just want to win. They have been great players and have been around the league. So they understand concepts, terminology and things that we do. So I think it’s a seamless transition.”

You all obviously have been in the mix with having Steph, Jimmy, Draymond, Steve and depth. But why do you think that’s enough to be a contender given the team’s age and what you’ll face with the rest of the field?

Podziemski: “I’m 100% confident that we can win. We have the talent. That’s a big part of it. We have experience in winning. That’s another big part of it. We have the most competitive group there is in the league. You mix up all of those three things, and that sets us up for a good situation.”

You became such a strong supporter of the Valkyries. What’s your favorite fandom moment?

Podziemski: “Not in particular. I just enjoyed being a part of it. The atmosphere makes it feel like you’re playing. I had fun being myself and having a good time. None stick out because every game that I went to was sold out and there was always the love they showed me when I was there. But it’s also the love they showed for the players, especially for it being their first year and not knowing what to expect. They showed up all of the time. It was a great experience to be a fan. They gave you something to look forward to going into next year.”

You had said ahead of the Valkyries-Fever game that you would try to heckle Caitlin Clark. How did that play out?

Podziemski: “Everybody that came into Chase Center, I just made it known that this is our home arena and we’re going to make them feel as such. It’s nothing personal against any player. It’s just rooting for the home team. I wouldn’t say anything sticks out because I don’t really remember a lot of them. It was in the moment. But I had a good time.”

Are you doing any recruiting for the Valkyries?

Podziemski: “Nah, I haven’t done that. I let Ohemaa [Nyanin] and the rest of her staff deal with that. They’ve made great decisions as you’ve seen in year one. So I just let them do it. The product in year two will be better than I imagine it was in year one. It’ll be exciting as a fan.”

What do you expect what they will show?

Podziemski: “I think because of the CBA, I think a lot of them will be free agents. So there will be a lot to choose from. As a tryout, per se, all the people that came to play the Valkyries and saw the atmosphere, I’m sure a lot of them are thinking, ‘I see this team that is up and coming, and they have a great support system. I would love to be a part of that right now.’ I think it helped that we sold out every game. It was a great atmosphere, and it’s enticing to free agents.”

That includes the top-level ones?

Podziemski: “Yeah, I would assume so.”

In all seriousness, you know the game the well and you have talked to the front office when they’ve asked you about players. What has that collaboration been like?

Podziemski: “It’s been good. It’s open-ended communication. It’s natural conversation. Nothing was forced. We have each other’s ear. We can talk about things that we see, what we don’t see and what we like. It’s cool to be included in that, even though I’m not part of the staff. But they did value some of my opinion.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.