Five straight wins. Something the Golden State Warriors didn't accomplish once last season, but perhaps the biggest “Antonio Banderas laptop” I had from Monday night's 116-113 comeback victory over the Phoenix Suns wasn't the winning streak itself.
It was Charles Bassey.
After Draymond Green’s ejection, Bassey delivered 19 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes and afterward, made it clear that he wants to force Steve Kerr to play him.
That makes me want to speculate, especially with Luca Evans’ reporting in the SF Chronicle that Bassey had, at one point, asked a Warriors staffer why he did not play in the 4th quarter of an “all-hands-on-deck” game:
The exercise bike spun, aimlessly, for an entire fourth quarter in Phoenix. Charles Bassey hardly hopped off, a young man who’d spent much of the previous few days with ice packs wrapped around his knees. He certainly didn’t hop off to hop back on the court, and his season debut was hard-capped at a mild 13 minutes in an Oct. 24 loss to the Suns.
Bassey understood. He had knee tendinitis. He was also frustrated. He spent most of his five previous NBA seasons watching from the sidelines, ailments wracking an otherwise-twitchy 6-foot-10 frame. He is tired of watching. So that night, he went to Drew Yoder, Golden State’s director of medical services, and questioned why he didn’t play the fourth quarter of an all-hands-on-deck game.
Two days later, he lounged with ice packs on knees at a Warriors shootaround. A horse, raring.
Oddly — and I was obviously not there to see if these quotes were taken in passing or what the environment in the locker room was like — it seemed as if after reading that passage, Evans left us with a cliffhanger.
So, I can’t help but connect the dots, though. I would guess that Bassey was told what he told us: “Force Steve to play you.” Disclaimer: This is not actual reporting. It’s an opinion and a total guess.
For those of us who’ve been advocating for more traditional center minutes to help preserve Draymond over the long season, Bassey's performance raised an important question about the Warriors’ rotation.
The question isn’t simply whether Bassey deserves more minutes. It's whether having a true 5 on the floor more often might allow Draymond to conserve his energy, avoid some of the physical punishment of defending bigger players, and remain at his best when Golden State needs him most.
It’s a discussion we’ll explore in greater depth another time, including the potential counterarguments. For now, Bassey’s performance and his postgame declaration deserve the top spot in this edition.
Meanwhile, Kerr declared that the team’s success “feels very real,” one Wardell Stephen Curry II praised the bench and Brandin Podziemski explained how Golden State rallied around Dray.
Here are my Top Ten postgame quotes from the Warriors’ fifth consecutive victory, with my observations and hot takes on what they might mean going forward.
“I just feel like I have to, like I said, man, I have to force him to play me. Like I said, just going out there, doing my job and what I did tonight, but doing that every game, it’s gonna be tough for a coach to not put you in the lineup or something, so I just let my game speak for itself and force him to do their job, which is put me out there.” — Bassey
My hot take: This was and will be an ongoing talking point of mine and, because I do not trust Steve to evolve that quickly into modern-day NBA standards as fast as armchair coaches like myself, I don’t see Draymond not starting at the 5 unless there is a specific matchup (such as Walker Kessler) that forces Bassey to the starting lineup. I should add that I do have a theory on why Kerr insists on Dray at the 5 that has more to do with Jimmy Butler, but we will examine this in greater detail later. But this has also become my No. 1 Warriors pet peeve, leap-frogging Podz whenever he meanders into a spot on the floor and kills his dribble. Sigh! You can rematch my diatribe here (see timestamps):
“It feels very real. I mean, we’ve been focused on the process of just trying to get better and we've been doing a good job of that. Our guys are locked in. And I think winning those two games on the road in Denver and Minnesota kind of righted the ship and now we’be carried the momentum forward. So we turned a bad start into a good start and now we've gotta keep it going.” — Kerr
My hot take: All Dray-at-the-5 angst aside, the bottom line is that the team is 5-3. I’ve postulated on livestreams in the past that true contenders — let’s say with potential to reach the Western Conference Semifinals – manage to put together win streaks of four or five games, four or five times per season (whereby an eight- to ten-game winning streak counts as two of those). This was a rough check sometime in 2025 when I scoured the game logs of various teams on bkref.com, so nothing concretely scientific yet.
“He lit a fire in all of us and we had to respond, so I’m glad we did.” — Curry on Draymond’s ejection
My hot take: While a true statement, just another clever way to appreciate Draymond and the value he provides to any team. As I mentioned, I went deep on this and even sparred with your typical casual Dray hater in the live chat, but we should celebrate that Dray learned his defensive chops and psychological warfare from the streets of Saginaw. That is a cultural statement I’m making, though. The best defender of all-time can indeed be produced in an environment of a lot of talking and what I’ll call extra physicality. A lot of people from Adam Silver on down the food chain do not understand this. And it is difficult to explain. But I have no problem with the dominoes that fell that ended up with Dray being ejected. Sometimes it is the price you have to pay to not get bullied. But… the ejection never would have happened if Steve would play an actual 5 against a legit 5 like Khaman Maluach. This one is on Kerr, but he escaped with the win so I don’t know if he’ll learn from it.
“I loved it. It fueled our team. We didn’t have that edge to us to start the game. Found it a little bit in the second quarter, but then they came out in the third quarter pretty well and then that kind of changed the game for us. Everybody locked in a little bit more and came together for Dray and so I think it was needed. Maybe he sensed it, maybe he didn’t, but it helped us.” — Podz
My hot take: Suffice it to say, BP “gets” Dray and that is good to see. That’s really all that matters, even if most casuals find themselves feeling negative thoughts about Draymond.
“Yeah. I mean, like I say, it was all fake because being physical doesn’t mean you have to scuffle with guys. And I mean, that doesn’t mean you’re tough. Being physical is playing hard every possession, going out there fighting for rebounds and doing what I’m doing. That’s being physical, challenging every shot and going out there, two or three guys trying to box me out on the offensive end and that's being physical, still getting the rebound, but I mean, what they doing is all fake. That’s fake toughness, man.” — Bassey on the Suns, particularly Miles Bridges (and Dillon Brooks, of course)
My hot take: Makes me wonder if some call-a-spade-a-spade personality rubbed off from our newly discovered Bassey BFF, Yaxel Lendeborg. Maybe Bassey has always been this way. Whatever the reason, we love it.
“Bass tonight, I’m sure he didn’t think he was gonna play 23 minutes and he was ready for it, so those are the patterns of what a good team does when night after night, no matter what the combination is, you’re finding production up and down the bench. And you love it. Everybody feeds off that energy. When a guy comes in like that, like Bass did tonight and changes the game, everybody notices. It lifts everybody’s spirits and keeps the momentum on our side, so it’s great.” — Steph on Bassey
My hot take: Always awesome when a GOAT mentions you, so this is indeed great momentum for Bass. Let’s hope Steve uses it for Miami on Thursday.
“Bassey was great. What a big night for him. The rebounding, the scoring, he and Yaxel have a really good connection in the pick-and-roll game. He gives him a lob threat and Yaxel sees the floor so well and he's so big that he finds him when he’s behind the defense.” — Kerr
My hot take: Don’t take this as any indication that Steve will play Bassey more. I need to see it to believe it, and in my decade of recording every pregame, postgame and Sacramento morning shootarounds (the only shootarounds where Kerr made himself available), I have seen many instances of praise on the mic that did not result in more minutes for the player mentioned.
“I mean, it’s really a lot like playing with Jimmy. They want the ball kind of in the same area, so for me, just going back and watching some stuff that I did with Jimmy to get him catches against matchups he likes. Obviously, he’s still learning the game. It’s a little fast for him still, but like I told him, I said, ‘Don’t let your aggression change, but just know when we get matchups that you like, a lot of times there are gonna be two people coming to you.’ And so it’s our job to give him outlets and have space around him, and he’s done a great job with that.” — Podz on Yax
My hot take: Steve mentioned pregame they’d be running some sets for Yaxel that used to be for Jimmy, so this seems to have become an actual talking point within the team — it’s actually mind-blowing even if you knew all along that Yaxel was just what the Warriors needed.
“Next-play mentality. Brandin’s a great competitor. He doesn’t get down. I think he’s really made improvements since his first couple years in terms of after a slow start, not getting down on himself and fighting through a slow start, but he’s got a lot of confidence now, more than he’s ever had, and he’s playing at a really high level.” — Steve
My hot take: I still think Podz has another level, but I’ve started to accept who he is, just like I give a pass on some of Steph’s turnovers and hero 3s, Draymond’s ejections, and maybe in the past, the mercurial™️ (trademarked by our loyal livechatter Bruce Maro) game-by-game performances of Andrew Wiggins or the defensive liability Klay Thompson became after the surgeries.
“I mean, Yax. BP taking another step forward. B-Will’s been great for us off the bench, giving us something different that we haven’t had in a while, so I think we’ve had some individual production that’s been pretty cool and then some standout guys who’ve made their presence felt night after night, but I think collectively we are, I’m sure Steve would say, for him and his staff, we’re probably a little bit more prepared on the details of what we’re trying to do and not just taking for granted you can play like the Warriors of old and just expect good things to happen. So the idea of what we talked about going into the year, keep the bones of what we do, how we play, what me and Draymond can do out there, but then the next level of detail to help the younger guys find their way. But we do have some talent that's been fun to watch.” — Steph when asked about the five-game winning streak which never happed last season
My hot take: I just wish the media would stop comparing. Again, as I always say on the livestreams, CRAP (comparisons, rankings, awards and predictions) will ruin your love for the game of basketball. But it’s kinda cool to see our GOAT just go, “I mean, Yax.” (Should’ve added, “Duh?” 😂)
Watch the full postgame Q&As
Kerr on the five-game winning streak, Bassey's impact and Golden State's improvement:
Curry on Green’s ejection, his free-throw streak, the bench and what makes this Warriors team different:
Podz and Bass on the physicality, Yax’s development and earning playing time:
Below the paywall: The complete postgame Q&A transcripts for subscribers.
