GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 20, 2026

Gui Santos

Media Conference

Q. You took such tremendous strides in your career this season. What do you think you're going to remember the most from this year?

GUI SANTOS: It was a tough year, a lot of adversities. At the same time, from a personal standpoint it was good for me. So I had an opportunity to grow. When the opportunity shows up for me, I was just like ready and working a lot on my game, so I can show a little bit more what I can do.

I think the favorite moment for me is I was talking about that too with the coaches. We were in Phoenix, that game right after the trade deadline. That was a special game. I had the layup for us it was 97-97 to 97-99 us. But when Steve drew up a play for me for the first time, I'm like, oh, that's different now. I'm not just being a guy that's crashing, an energy guy.

He's like, throw him the ball. Gui, you're playing the pick-and-roll. That was my favorite moment when I realized how much my role has changed on the team at that time.

Q. You got your extension done during the season. Does that change anything for you going into the summer, knowing that you have that security that you're going to be here? How does that affect your prep?

GUI SANTOS: For me, with the extension, it was great. Like I told you guys, it's a great feeling now. You've got the security that my family's good, you know. So of course that gives us a little bit more security, but at the same time, I'm the type of guy that I always want more.

Now I've got the security. Now I've got to make sure that I play and help the team more than I did this year. For me that's going to be a big summer to work on a lot of stuff that I've got to get better, a lot of stuff that I need to do more for the team because now my role changes a little bit. I think the extension for sure gives me a little bit, you know.

Q. What do you want to work on this summer?

GUI SANTOS: Keep working on my defense. That's the thing that I always like when you play defense well. It's never a problem. Another thing that I want to do better is getting to the line a little bit more maybe.

I grew up playing FIBA, and there there's no -- some calls they have in the NBA, so I'm not used to that. That was the first year that I had the opportunity to have the ball, drive a little bit more. So we worked a little bit on that more, don't get around guys to finish. Go more into and bump and get more calls.

Defense, that, and keep working on my free throws. I could have a better free-throw percentage this year. And 3-point shots to be more constant every night, making shots every night. Yeah, I think that's it.

Q. Obviously a big question for you guys is Steve's future. What has he meant for you with your time here?

GUI SANTOS: Man, Steve is a special guy for me. Like he was the coach that gave me my first opportunity to play in the NBA. He's a guy that realized the dream for me, so he was a big part of it. The way that he coaches, you can see that one thing I always like about guys that was a player and now he's a coach, like he understands the players very, very well.

The fact that he was a player and played a long time in the NBA, been in the NBA for a long time, he really understands everything that the players go through. Yeah, I love that.

Like I said, Steve is really, really special for me. I wanted to be coached by him my whole career if I can.

Q. Steve had that long hug with Draymond and Steph after the game. What was your perspective on what happened after your season kind of ended there?

GUI SANTOS: I just saw that in the social media. I didn't see that in person. I don't know exactly what they have in mind there, but like I said, man, it's just like a special group. They did so much for the organization. Steve, Steph, Draymond, all of them are a big part of the organization.

If I have them all around for the next years for me would be great. Like I said, I love being coached by Steve. Draymond, I love having Draymond on the team. Steph, I don't need to say nothing about him. Steph is Steph. It would be great to have all of them together next year too.

Q. We haven't talked to you since the passing of Oscar Schmidt. As the only active Brazilian NBA player, I was wondering if you have any reflections on what he meant to you and to the game.

GUI SANTOS: For me, Oscar, I never watched him play, too young. I think the year that he finished his career in 2003 was the year that I was one year old. So I didn't really watch him playing.

Oscar was a lot for Brazil, he meant a lot for everybody because I think he put Brazil on the map when you talk about basketball. Nobody knew Brazil for basketball before him. It was just soccer. Then Oscar come, and in the Olympics he was scoring 45, 50 points, 55. The fact that he's the second best -- second guy to have most points in history of basketball, he's just behind LeBron, tells a lot.

Oscar Holy Hands, like he's known in Brazil. He was a big thing for all of the Brazilians, and you could see like in Brazil right now, the only thing they talk is just Oscar. He had a big and huge impact for us. It's kind of like Pelé of basketball for us.

Yeah, it was a hard time for all the people that love basketball and Brazil. Oscar is really, really the biggest idol and biggest guy in basketball history for Brazil. So nobody can be like him again.

Q. What did you like about the resiliency of this group? Through all the injuries and ups and downs and different starting lineups and how you guys kind of kept it together through so many heartbreaking injuries?

GUI SANTOS: Like I said, it was a very tough season because of the injuries. What I love most about this group is you could see we were fighting every night even without our main players. We were trying to win. I think that's the biggest thing because we were not trying to lose games. Every game that we're stepping on the court was just trying to win.

It's tough when you don't have your main players on the court. You could see if we don't have Steph in a play-in game against the Clippers, we're probably not winning that game because nobody can do what he does, just step in and hit a crazy 3-point. That's what we missed the most part of the season.

But the way that we fight on the court, the way that everybody just gives everything every night shows a lot about this group. That was my favorite part of this group too.

Q. How did you see Steve kind of keep it together too? He had to improvise with different lineups in what seemed every single game.

GUI SANTOS: Yeah, it was really tough for him. Even when it was not just Steph and Jimmy out, after like Moses out. It was every day something happened with somebody, like Moses has like the wrist injury, Al had the injury -- like by the end of the season had a little injury I was dealing with too.

So it was a lot of adversity that was really hard for him trying to make up and just fix rotations. I can't say nothing about that because he's great. He knows. He's got four rings as a coach. So he knows everything that he was doing, and he did his best with what he had in hands at the time.

Q. Now do you go to wedding planning? Is that right? What's your schedule now?

GUI SANTOS: I've actually just been invited for a wedding because I don't know nothing. Who knows everything is Julia. She's making everything (laughter). She's doing everything.

She knows me like two options. I've got these options and these options. Which one you like more? I said, which one you like more?

I like this.

Oh, this one is best, I agree.

That's how I'm doing right now. I'm just agreeing with everything that she shows me.

That's going to be a good time, a great time. I'm excited for that.

Q. When you were drafted, Leandro Barbosa told me give him a couple years, two or three years, he's going to be fine. He's going to be fine. What was your time with him like? What did you learn from him? I know you guys have had many conversations over the years.

GUI SANTOS: With him, when I got here, he went to Sacramento. So we didn't spend a lot of time together in NBA, but I spent a lot of time with him when he was playing Brazil. Yeah, he was like playing in the club that I was playing at the beginning of my career.

The fact that he was there and I was watching his game a lot, watching the way that he works, the work ethic of him, like every day he was there early, he was like -- he made a lot of money in the NBA. He was just like, he could just do nothing and just be -- because he has a big name in Brazil. Leandro is big in Brazil. Even here in America too.

When he went there, he's still working. He's still doing everything right and showed me, okay, even with his light set, he's been working. So I don't have nothing. I've got to work way more hard than him. So I can have the opportunity to go to the NBA. At the time, I was just thinking about the opportunity to be in the NBA.

After I got here, he was at my draft workout too with the Warriors, and just having him helping me, talking to me during my career, and during the time I was in Brazil was great because I learned a lot. I was asking him a lot of stuff about NBA and how the NBA works. He was like, you've got to deal with a lot of stuff.

You're not going to play -- that happened to me. He said you're not going to play for one month, then you have an opportunity to be a star the next day. You're going to start the game the next day, and you've got to be ready and go there and perform. That happened.

A guy that helped me a lot with that was Anderson Varejao, I talked to him a lot. At the beginning of his career, he wasn't playing too much. Then he got the opportunity to play. He proved that he can play, and he got to play with Cleveland at the time, and he turned into an idol then. He came here and played here one year.

I learned a lot from the guys. Like Thiago Splitter too. He's the first Brazilian coach to coach an NBA team right now. First coach to go to playoffs from Brazil. Really, really proud of what Brazil has been doing in the NBA. I hope we can have more players in the next couple years. Going to see my brother here in a couple years too. That's the goal. That's good. That's amazing.