Stephen Curry Is Right About Preseason — The Warriors Have Bigger Tests Than the Score
GOATIFYStephen Curry has played enough preseason basketball to know how little the final score can tell you. Golden State lost its opener to the Clippers 104-101 in Honolulu, and the veterans were gone by halftime. Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford all played limited minutes. The more useful question was not whether the Warriors won. It was whether the work around the result looked like preparation for something sustainable.
Curry's answer was essentially to ignore the scoreboard. Entering his 18th NBA season, he said he could barely remember preseason outcomes from his career. That perspective fits this particular Warriors team. Golden State is trying to install a new five-out offense, integrate rookie Yaxel Lendeborg and manage the workload of a 38-year-old star who appeared in only 43 regular-season games last year. A three-point exhibition loss is background noise compared with those tests.
The score is noise — the process is the useful part
The opener offered a good example of why Curry's point matters. Golden State trailed by 12 at halftime, but Curry had already done what the Warriors needed from him: 10 points in 12 minutes on 3-of-4 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three, with two rebounds, two assists and a steal. He did not need to chase the game in the second half because October 4 was about checking boxes, not closing possessions.
The same logic applies to the new offense. Steve Kerr is moving Golden State toward a five-out structure designed to create more space and driving lanes. The first-half execution was rough, with the Warriors shooting poorly and turning the ball over, while Draymond Green looked less comfortable in a role that asks him to spend more time away from his familiar traffic-directing responsibilities. That is information worth keeping. The 104-101 score is not.
Golden State also has a development problem that preseason can actually help solve. Lendeborg started alongside Curry, Green, Horford and Brandin Podziemski and finished with four points on 1-of-6 shooting, but grabbed nine rebounds and added three assists. Kerr and Curry both pushed the same message afterward: the rookie cannot become passive while trying to make the correct read. Those possessions matter because the Warriors need to learn what Lendeborg can handle before the regular season forces the answer.
That is the distinction Curry is making. Exhibition basketball is useful when it reveals roles, habits and physical readiness. It becomes misleading when a team treats the final margin as if both coaches were optimizing every possession to win.
Golden State's own history says to watch health and habits, not wins
Golden State's own history supports Curry's skepticism. Some of the dynasty's best seasons followed strong preseasons, but others did not. The Warriors went 6-2 before the 2014-15 championship season and 6-1 before another title two years later. Yet the 2015-16 team went only 3-4 in preseason and then opened the regular season with 24 consecutive victories. The 2017-18 champions were just 2-2 in exhibition games.
That history does not mean everything in October is meaningless. It means the predictive signal lives below the win-loss record. For this version of Golden State, health may be the biggest example. Curry missed 39 regular-season games in 2025-26 and has described managing his right knee as a new normal. His efficient 12-minute return in Honolulu, followed by a clean exit, tells the Warriors more than a late preseason comeback ever could.
The trip itself was also built around process. Golden State spent seven figures to hold camp in Hawaii, with the organization emphasizing team bonding and a different environment for a group that largely returned intact. Fourteen of the 21 players at the end of last season were back. The idea was not to manufacture chemistry from scratch but to refresh relationships and habits around a veteran core.
That is why preseason should be judged by what survives into the regular season: spacing, decisions, health and role clarity. The record can be forgotten as soon as the games start counting.
So Curry is right to resist turning one loss into a referendum. The Warriors have real questions: whether the five-out offense can become natural, whether the younger players can supply enough athleticism and creation, and whether Curry can remain healthy enough to anchor another playoff push. Preseason can help answer all three. The standings cannot.
Golden State's next exhibitions should therefore be judged by cleaner spacing, faster decisions and healthy veterans, not by whether the Warriors finish with more points. October is for building evidence. The games that count will arrive soon enough.
