Warriors Told Brandin Podziemski They Wouldn’t Trade Him For Paul George Or Lauri Markkanen

The Golden State Warriors told Brandin Podziemski they wouldn’t trade him for NBA All-Stars Paul George or Lauri Markkanen.

The Warriors tried to acquire George and Markkanen this offseason but wouldn’t include Podziemski. 

“A lot of these other teams are calling about you,” Podziemski said Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy told him, via NBA reporter Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “They want you, but you’re not going anywhere. You’re ours.”

The Warriors are high on Podziemski, whose usage rate will increase next season with Klay Thompson‘s departure.

Thompson left Golden State for the Dallas Mavericks. 

“From a fan perspective, from a media perspective, there is this looking at the front office kind of crazy,” Podziemski said. “Like, ‘You didn’t make any trades? You want to keep Brandin? Why him?’ There are questions that obviously the public and the media has. I see my fair share of it. It’s cool, and it’s not. It’s cool to see you’re valued by another organization in the NBA for such a good player like Markkanen. But at the same time, now that the trade didn’t go through, people on social media look at it like it’s my fault. I don’t have anything to do with it. But it’s cool.”

Podziemski averaged 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.2 blocks last season for the Warriors while shooting 45.4% from the field, 38.5% from beyond the arc and 63.3% from the free-throw line. 

Golden State drafted Podziemski with the 19th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft out of Santa Clara. 

“I think for me, anything in life, if you do something good, with good comes expectation,” Podziemski said. “I mean, I won’t go into games thinking about it. I just know what I’ve done all offseason. I know how much better of a player I’m going to be. Obviously, I have expectations for myself to perform. This is my job. But I don’t think there’s any nervousness to exceed expectations. I’m just going to be me.”