Golden State Built an Identity on Small Ball. This Camp Wants a New Version
The 5-out offense Steve Kerr is installing in Hawaii is this decade's answer to the spacing identity the Warriors built with the Death Lineup, and it still has to run through Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Kerr enters his twelfth season as the only coach this core has known, and training camp has centered on a 5-out system NBC Sports Bay Area reported the Warriors began installing on day one. The same questions that shaped the 2015 Death Lineup are back: who plays center, and who spaces the floor around Curry and Green.
The Standard That Still Applies
A decade ago, the Warriors solved spacing by going small: a five-man unit built around shooting that turned the 2015 Finals and set up a 73-9 season, still the best regular-season record in league history. Curry and Thompson set a volume-shooting bar the franchise still measures itself against. That identity won four titles between 2015 and 2022, and it's the version of this team Golden State still wants back.
Hawaii's Version of the Same Problem
Camp opened with Kerr installing a 5-out offense, NBC Sports Bay Area reported, spacing the floor around Curry rather than running a small-ball wing rotation. The wrinkle is at center. Anthony Slater reported Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely, and the Warriors have not said when he returns. A system built on floor balance needs someone at the five who can shoot, and right now that answer is unsettled.
Horford as the Bridge
Monte Poole, writing for NBC Sports Bay Area, framed Al Horford as the insurance policy if Porzingis can't open the season at center. Horford is 40 and entering his 19th year, the oldest player on the roster, asked to hold down a position the Warriors spent the offseason building a system around. It's a stopgap, not a solution, but it's the one on the roster right now.
The Two Who Were Already There
Curry, 38 and in his 17th season, and Green, 36 and in his 14th, are the last players remaining from the group that built the original identity. Last season showed how unsettled the group around them still is: the best five-man combination featuring both finished at plus-16.9 per 100 possessions, but across only 65 minutes, and none of last season's top three lineups lasted even half a season together. Whatever five takes shape in Hawaii, it still runs through the same two names.
Is Kristaps Porzingis playing for the Warriors right now?
No. Anthony Slater reported on September 28 that Porzingis is out indefinitely, and the Warriors have not given a timeline for his return.
What is the Warriors' 5-out offense in training camp?
NBC Sports Bay Area reported the Warriors spent the first day of training camp in Hawaii installing a 5-out offense, spacing the floor around Stephen Curry rather than a small-ball wing rotation.
