SAN FRANCISCO – The week-long NBA All-Star break is almost over, ready to give way to a 27-game sprint to the postseason for the Warriors.
They are only 29-26 and hanging onto the eighth seed in the West, but Steph Curry and Co. have shown they can turn it up following an in-season intermission.
Last year, a middling Golden State rode the momentum created by a blockbuster Jimmy Butler trade to a 23-8 finish to the regular season.
This season, the Warriors will hope that Kristaps Porzingis – acquired via the Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield – will have a similar effect.
“You just need a chance. If you give yourself a shot at it, we know how to do it,” Draymond Green said Feb. 5 in Phoenix after the trade deadline. “That’s a skill that probably 97% of the NBA does not have. They don’t know how to do it. We actually know.”
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That is not the only uncertainty the Warriors need to deal with over the next two months to close the regular season. Here are four other questions for the Warriors.
Can Curry stay healthy?
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry works against the Dallas Mavericks in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)Steph Curry, only a month away from turning 38, is still one of the 10 best players in the league. He is averaging 27.2 points per game and leads the league in both 3-pointers made per game (4.5) and free throw percentage (93.1). However, he has already missed 16 games this season, including the final five before the break with runner’s knee.
He is still unquestionably elite, but Curry is now just two missed games away from not being eligible for end-of-season awards, given the NBA’s 65 games played stipulation. More importantly, while Pat Spencer and De’Anthony Melton are capable ball-handlers and scorers as backup point guards, neither is the game-changing presence Curry is.
Curry’s teammates often refer to him as a superhero, and he is still capable of winning a game by himself. But Curry can only do that if he is actually on the floor. The Warriors’ push to the playoffs will be, in large part, defined by whether he can be available down the stretch for Golden State.
Does Kristaps Porzingis have enough left in tank?
New acquisition Kristaps Porzingis joined the Warriors before their game in Los Angeles on Saturday. However, the 7-foot-2 center won't make his Warriors debut until after the All-Star break. (Photo by Joseph Dycus / staff)Green has raved about how he and the 7-foot-2 Porzingis will fit together on defense. Moses Moody has already imagined the ways the sweet-shooting center (17.1 points per game) can space the floor as an outside threat.
But how much of that imagination will translate into reality is very much in doubt. Porzingis has played in only 17 games this season, and participated in over 60 games in a season just once in the past seven years.
Porzingis, 30, has dealt with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and a litany of injuries over the course of his career, and can no longer play back-to-backs.
Kerr expects Porzingis to play on Thursday against Boston, but sees him only participating in “short bursts” rather than taking on extended minutes. He will be part of a three-headed center rotation alongside Al Horford and Quinten Post, although Post’s minutes could be in danger if Porzingis comes out of the gate strong.
At his best, the Latvian big man is still an elite rim protector and an unstoppable scorer who fills the Warriors’ two biggest needs.
But only if he can stay on the floor.
Will Warriors get competent wing play?
Golden State Warriors' Gui Santos #15 celebrates after scoring a basket in the fourth quarter of their NBA game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)Porzingis could be the season-changing addition the Warriors need, but they had to give up two of their top wings – albeit one was Kuminga, who seldom played. That, plus Butler’s injury, leaves Gui Santos and Moody as the only small forwards on the roster.
Santos has taken a huge step offensively over the last few weeks, averaging 14.3 points per game over the last eight games and being a starter in the past five. Long known as a high-energy player, he has now made 39.4% of his 3-pointers over his last eight games.
Moody, who has established himself as a defense-first player with a streaky shot, has found consistency for the past month. He has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 games and is now back up to 40.1% shooting from behind the line.
Both are willing, if not quite elite, man-to-man defenders. But in a conference with elite perimeter scorers such as Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and others, can the Warriors rely on those two to hold their own against future Hall of Famers in critical situations?
Is Melton ready for more?
Golden State Warriors’ De'Anthony Melton (8) shoots and scores a basket in the fourth quarter of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Charlotte Hornets 136-116. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)Since joining the active roster in early December, Melton has blown away even the most optimistic of expectations anyone could have had following a return after a year of rehab following an ACL tear in 2024.
In 28 games played, he is a whopping plus-219 in 610 minutes on the floor, averaging 11.7 points per game and providing a non-Curry threat to break down the defense off the dribble while also giving Kerr another on-ball defender.
He has been extremely effective in just 25 minutes per game, a playing time cap that has remained steadfast all season. Kerr has expressed a desire to bump up his minutes later in the season as Melton regains his form.
With the playoff push approaching, the Warriors need Melton to continue his high level of play and take pressure off Curry as a perimeter creator in more extended minutes.
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