Brandin Podziemski exchanged ‘sad’ text messages with Chris Paul during free agency – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Young Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski had a rude awakening in his first professional offseason regarding NBA free agency.

The 21-year-old, who was a standout rookie in the 2023-24 NBA season, lost two mentors and Golden State teammates, Chris Paul and Klay Thompson, in less than 24 hours.

Accepting the changes, especially Paul’s departure, was a bitter pill for Podziemski to swallow, but the All-Rookie guard remains focused on helping Golden State win, regardless of who ends up playing alongside him in the 2024-25 NBA season.

“Seeing Chris (leave) – I texted him yesterday, it was pretty sad,” Podziemski told reporters Monday at a press conference about the 2024 Summer League. “But whoever shows up on October 1, we’ve got to rock. Whether we’re a young team, whether we’re old again, whether we’re not, whether we have stars around us (Steph Curry) or not, we’re going to have to work with it and figure it out.”

“This is what I’ve been working towards. In the last 8 to 10 weeks I’ve just gotten better and as close to being a star as I can get.”

“I texted him yesterday. It was pretty sad.”

Brandin Podziemski on his first NBA offseason and the likely departures of Chris Paul and Klay Thompson pic.twitter.com/KgIGkLJ1O7

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) July 1, 2024

Podziemski quickly learned that the NBA is a business.

Paul, a 12-time NBA All-Star, is moving to another team (San Antonio Spurs) for the fifth time since the 2018-19 season. And Thompson, a four-time champion and 13-year veteran of the Warriors, disagreed with the only organization he knew and is moving to the Dallas Mavericks.

The two guards who are now moving to Texas were important mentors for Podziemski last season, along with Golden State superstar Steph Curry. Of these experienced guards, only one remains.

Fortunately, Podziemski is looking forward to an increased workload and helping Curry in all areas. The labor shortage doesn’t scare the Santa Clara product.

“It’s definitely crazy,” Podziemski said of his first offseason. “I’ve never been there, so it’s definitely different seeing different people sign with different places every day.”

“From my perspective and how I would handle things, we have to work with whoever is with us on media day and that’s all you can really go by. When we’re on media day or at training camp, we have to work with that, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

Podziemski, the Warriors and Dub Nation are equally torn about Thompson in particular leaving the Bay.

But change is inevitable. And one day, Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr will play for Golden State one last time.

The best thing to do is to take a leaf out of Podziemski’s book and learn about the future of the Warriors.

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