Final Warriors Report Card For Turbulent, Injury-filled 2025-26 Nba Season

Final Warriors report card for turbulent, injury-filled 2025-26 NBA season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Describing the Warriors’ 2025-26 NBA season is a compilation of phases with some lasting longer than others.

There was an uneven start that had them as a .500 team through the first month. That became more mediocrity and a tease of things looking up before Jimmy Butler’s torn ACL, followed by Steph Curry’s lingering knee issue, trading Jonathan Kuminga for Kristaps Porzingis, Moses Moody’s torn patellar tendon and the season ending with highs of the first play-in game, then shifting to the sadness of a loss and an unknown future.

The Warriors fell well short of expectations. A 37-win season was never an idea for a team that still had Curry, Butler and Draymond Green. Injuries and inconsistency ravaged a season where the Warriors were just never good enough.

Now that it’s over, let’s look back and do our best at grading a year full of layers.

Offense

In more categories than not, the Warriors were an average to below-average offense. Yes, they ranked first in 3-point attempts, second in 3-point makes and sixth in assists, but they also had the third-most turnovers, ranked 22nd in total points, 24th in field goal percentage, 20th in 3-point percentage and 15th in offensive rebounds. 

Those rankings made out for a 113.8 offensive rating, which ranked 19th overall. 

The Warriors lost when Curry scored 48 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. They lost both of his 39-point games and both of his 38-point games. They went 6-8 in his 14 30-point games as a perfect representation of how underwhelming their offense was.

Steve Kerr had to go through 43 different starting lineups. A lack of offensive rhythm was apparent as ever.

Grade: C-

Defense 

Remember when the Warriors could at least hang their hat on being a top-ranked defense? That began to change when the calendar turned to 2026. 

The final result was a 16th-ranked 114.4 defensive rating. They ranked 14th in opponents’ points per game, 23rd in opponents’ field goal percentage, 14th in opponents’ 3-pointers made per game and 19th in opponents’ 3-point percentage. For how much they gave the ball away, only three more teams forced more turnovers than the Warriors.

Still, far too many players went off for career nights against the Warriors. Point of attack continued to be a problem, and it never was surprising when a 3-point shooter caught fire against them. 

Grade: C+

Stars 

They shined and dimmed this season for the Warriors. 

Curry’s 26.6 points per game were the third-most ever for a player age 37 or older. Scoring still comes in bunches from him in the purest and most baffling of ways with high accuracy. He gave moments of greatness again, just more in a limited edition form. 

From Dec. 7 through Jan. 19, the game he went down to injury, Butler, in an 18-game span, averaged 20.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists while playing 31.5 minutes a night at 36 years old. Butler was a plus-104 during that stretch with three 30-point games, eight games of at least 20 points and scored below 15 points just once – a 14-point game where he was one rebound and one assist shy of a triple-double. When Butler was healthy, he still was a top 15 to 20 player in the league. 

The most available of the three was Green, whose 68 games were 30 more than Butler’s and 25 more than Curry’s. This wasn’t an easy season for him, nor was it a familiar one. Green had to adapt his offense and had stretches of bad turnover trouble, but also defended stars like Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and more in ways only he still can.

Grade: B+

Additions

Once De’Anthony Melton was cleared to play, it again was obvious why the Warriors wanted him back. Behind Butler (plus-185 in 38 games), Melton was the Warriors’ plus/minus leader at plus-95 in 49 games. He didn’t shoot the ball well while being thrown into a role outside his means, but still proved he can be a scorer and ranked third on the Warriors in defensive rating (113.4).

Second was Al Horford with a 113.3 defensive rating. Horford was a rim protector all season. Offensively, he could not get his footing at the start of the season and then hit his stride once Christmas came. He played 45 games and missed 37.

And first in defensive rating was Gary Payton II (113.2), who averaged a career-high 7.5 points per game and shot 58.3 percent from the field as a 6-foot-2 monster around the rim. 

Seth Curry showed he can still shoot it, going 12 of 25 from deep, but played in just 10 games.

Though he hit the wall and had a hard time getting through it, rookie Will Richard had a solid first season, playing in 69 games and getting 20 minutes a night.

Rounding out this section has to be Kristaps Porzingis. After playing just 17 of a possible 53 games for the Atlanta Hawks, Porzingis, starting from his team debut to the second play-in tournament game, played in 17 of a possible 29 games for the Warriors. Porzingis is something they’ve never had, and it’s still a guessing game of how often he’ll be able to play going forward.

Grade: B-

Youth

In a season that might have felt lost to many, the leaps made by Moses Moody, Gui Santos and Brandin Podziemski were real and should be recognized. At the very least, all three proved they can be in the regular rotation for a long time. They raised their games and were success stories in their own ways. 

Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis both were traded during the season. Quinten Post started 35 games but ended the season hurt and out of the rotation. Then there’s the draft. 

As previously mentioned, Richard was another nice second-round find. But the Warriors’ first pick, Alex Toohey, never got healthy and never looked like an NBA player before being waived. Charles Bassey and LJ Cryer both showed they could be good additions on the cheap next season. 

Grade: B-

Health 

Let’s say it like it is: Injuries ended the Warriors’ season, and it all crumbled when Butler began rolling on the Chase Center floor.

“I think that injury just derailed us,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ final game. 

Butler, in his final full game, scored 32 points on 14-of-22 shooting with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals as a plus-15 in a 13-point win against the New York Knicks. The Warriors hope Butler can return in January or February of next season.

Curry, in his first game from missing 27 straight with runner’s knee, scored 29 points and made five threes in a last-second loss to the Houston Rockets. 

Moody, in his final game and first following a 10-game absence because of a wrist injury, scored 23 points with four 3-pointers, three steals and two blocks. Who knows when exactly he’ll make his return?

Horford has missed seven straight games before returning on Christmas and dropping 14 points, four rebounds, four threes, two assists and two steals. 

Yeah, you get the picture. 

Grade: F

Overall

The description of the season Melton gave ahead of the play-in tournament is how so many felt: “We feel like we’re better than our record, given the year that we had.”

Hope was the overriding emotion over sadness at the end of last season. It wasn’t replicated this time. There was hope that a healthy Curry, Butler and Green, plus Horford and Melton, and other factors going their way, could produce a team that would flirt with 50 wins and thrive in the playoffs. 

Play-in purgatory is where they live now. The last day the Warriors were a top-six seed in the Western Conference was Nov. 4, when they had a 5-3 record. The sizzle never matched how the Warriors fizzled out this season. 

Every piece of context matters in trying to explain the Warriors’ season. None of the facts takes away from the disappointment that became their ultimate feeling. 

Grade: D+

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