The Warriors' camp story has been about size and spacing. Kerr opened with Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Green and Horford, praising the size up front and the playmaking from Steph and Dray, with Horford stretching the floor. The bench has its own subplot. Offseason signings Brandon Williams and Gui Santos were already building chemistry with the second unit in camp, and on the tail end of a back-to-back, that group could end up playing most of the minutes.
The injury list explains a lot of those lineup choices. Jimmy Butler III is out with the knee, and the Warriors are hoping for him back early in 2027. Kristaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with an undisclosed issue, per ESPN's Anthony Slater, which is why Horford is the starting big. Moses Moody has only progressed to light on-court work as he comes back from a ruptured left patellar tendon. Alex Toohey, on an Exhibit 10 deal, carries a knee designation.
Portland has more riding on this than an exhibition usually carries. The Blazers went 42-40 last season and lost in the first round, their first playoff trip since 2021, and they did it without Lillard. Toumani Camara has said out loud that he wants a 50-win team with home court. Camp hasn't been perfectly smooth, though. Day 2 brought too many turnovers, not enough defensive rebounding and a team playing a little too fast and careless. Morant and Lillard pushing the pace together is exactly how that problem shows up in a game, so ball security is the first thing to watch.
Tipoff is 7:00 PM PT. The real questions are how long Lillard plays and whether he looks like the player he describes, how Morant and Lillard split the ball, and how much of Golden State's top unit shows up on the second night of a back-to-back. Portland opens the regular season at home against Phoenix on October 21, the same night the Warriors start theirs, so both teams have 2 weeks to fix whatever this game shows.