- Position
- C
- Number
- #28
- Age
- 25
- Pieces here
- 9
On the record
Called Shots →Golden State's apron-basis team salary is still above the first apron of $209,015,000 on opening night of the 2026-27 season.
The Golden State Warriors record more than 346 total blocks in the 2026-27 regular season.
Al Horford leads the Golden State Warriors in total blocks in the 2026-27 regular season.
Written about him
Kerr sat three starters at halftime and kept Yaxel Lendeborg on the floor
Golden State lost its preseason opener to the Clippers, 104-101, in Honolulu on Sunday, October 4. The five Steve Kerr named on October 1, Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Draymond Green and Al Horford, started and played three minutes and 14 seconds together before the first substitution, per the NBA's play-by-play. Curry, Green and Horford played the first half only, at 12:58, 13:52 and 15:42. Lendeborg played 18:44, the most minutes of the 18 Warriors who appeared, and started the second half with Podziemski, De'Anthony Melton, Gui Santos and Charles Bassey. He had four points on 1-of-6 shooting, a game-high nine rebounds and three assists. Kerr said afterward that Lendeborg was good and needs to be more aggressive. When Kerr named the five, he said he did not know whether it would start on opening night, and the reason he gave was Horford's age and minutes. Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody did not play. Five preseason games remain before the October 21 opener at the Lakers.
The Warriors have one center who shoots threes, one night at a time
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said at media day on Monday, September 28, that Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with a health issue the club learned of on Sunday, and that he will not travel to training camp at BYU-Hawaii. The club gave no timeline and did not describe the issue. Steve Kerr said the same day that Golden State is 'playing a more modern brand of basketball now, five-out.' Basketball Reference lists three centers on the roster. Porzingis took 74 threes in 356 minutes for Golden State last season; Al Horford took 205 in 969; Charles Bassey has taken 13 in 1,410 career minutes. Horford, 40, did not play on consecutive days last season: of Golden State's 16 back-to-backs he played one night 12 times and neither night four times, per his game logs at Basketball Reference and ESPN. Golden State's first back-to-back of 2026-27 is Memphis at Chase Center on October 23 and Phoenix on the road on October 24. Butler and Moody traveled to Hawaii with no return timeline.
Vogel gets the Warriors defense, and its shot blockers played 1,425 minutes
Golden State blocked 346 shots in 2025-26, 4.2 a game, 26th in the league, and pulled down 31.0 defensive rebounds a game, 25th. It also finished second in steals and sixth in turnovers forced. Three men who are still under contract blocked shots at better than 1.5 per 36 minutes last season: Charles Bassey at 2.52 on 100 minutes, Al Horford at 1.89, Kristaps Porzingis at 1.62. They played 1,425 of the team's 19,805 minutes, 7.2 percent, across 65 games. The next rate on the list is Draymond Green's 0.81. Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis, third and eighth on the team in blocks, are gone, and with the other departures go 75 of the 346 blocks and 578 of the 2,540 defensive rebounds. The three players added since are a rookie forward, a power forward and a guard. Frank Vogel was announced as associate head coach on September 17 and Steve Kerr says he is turning the defense over to him. Vogel's twelve seasons as a head coach produced three defenses that finished first in the league and two that finished third. Camp opens in Hawaii on September 29. Two takes filed.
Georges Niang's New Contract Protects The Warriors Against Georges Niang's Foot
Georges Niang's one-year minimum deal with Golden State is only partially guaranteed at $1,838,009 against a full-season salary of $3,876,529, and it carries Exhibit 3 language protecting the club if he has further trouble with the left foot that cost him all of 2025-26. Brandon Williams' deal is entirely non-guaranteed until he makes the opening-night roster. Charles Bassey's salary does not lock until January. Twelve of Golden State's standard contracts are fully guaranteed and three are not, which is the number that matters with training camp opening at BYU-Hawaii on September 29. Dalen Terry signed a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 on August 28 and Alex Toohey agreed to one on September 9, both of them convertible to the third two-way spot the club has left open, and 2026 draft pick Lajae Jones is still unsigned. Two takes filed, on Jones and on whether Niang is still here in January.
Brandon Williams Will Be Paid More Than Golden State Is Charged For Him
Free agent guard Brandon Williams agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Warriors on Tuesday, reported by Shams Charania at ESPN through agents Derek Lafayette and Curtis Lawrence. The figure is the four-year veteran minimum of $2,625,627 for 2026-27. Because the league reimburses part of a one-year minimum signed by a veteran of three or more years, the charge against Golden State is fixed at $2,449,421, the two-year minimum, and the difference of $176,206 is the league's. Williams becomes the 14th man on a roster that carried 12 fully guaranteed standard contracts plus Charles Bassey on a partial one, against a limit of 15. He averaged 13.0 points, 3.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 22.2 minutes across 66 games for Dallas last season, and 10.7 points in 19.3 minutes across 140 career games and 34 starts in four seasons since Portland. ESPN reported Tuesday that Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody will miss the opening months of the season rehabilitating knee injuries. No take is filed with this piece; three open calls on the ledger already run into it.
