GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 20, 2026

Brandin Podziemski

Media Conference

Q. Brandin, how would you summarize your season?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Kind of coincides with the team's success, so up and down. Slow to start. Learned some things when Jimmy and stuff were out that are going to help me in the future.

I think I finished strong. March and April were good for me. Had a couple of solid games in the play-in. So, yeah, just ready to continue and take the momentum from that into next year.

Q. Obviously a significant offseason with you being extension-eligible. Do you want to get that done this offseason and stay here?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Of course. I want to be here for the long-term. It's always special having the team that drafted you, so hopefully we can get something done.

Q. How do you feel like you dealt with some of the criticism that you faced outside the building and everything?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I don't know. I think you hear it, but it doesn't change who you are as a person or the things you try to provide for the team.

Obviously, like I said before, a lot of it is self-inflicted, so can't really do much on that end, but just be a positive light for my teammates and show up for them each and every night.

Q. Do you feel like you kind of learned some things from that experience?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, I do. I definitely did. There's goods and bads to everything, but sometimes you need to go through some stuff to figure some things out. So I think that's kind of what happened to me with that kind of stuff.

Q. Brandin, obviously Dramond and Steph talked after the last game about Steve and his future. What has he meant for you in your first three seasons being coached by him?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, definitely full of gratitude. He gave me a big opportunity that most young guys don't get, so definitely thankful on that end.

But I think Steph said it best. Just whatever makes him happy, whatever he wants to do, whatever brings joy to him at this point in his life, that's what we're (indiscernible) to do.

Obviously we would love to have him back, but if his happiness takes him elsewhere, that's his choice.

Q. With the contract extension, was that something that was ever on your mind during the season? How easy was it to ignore that and just let that be what it is?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think it's pretty easy to just put by the wayside. When you think about it coming into the year, if you do at all, you realize the next summer is to far away, and there's so much in between that has to go on that if you live and die by that each and every game, it goes like this.

So for me I just let my agent and my group handle that and just go out there and try to put my best foot forward every night and just continuously try to get better.

Q. Did Jonathan's situation last summer have any kind of influence on you wanting to get a deal done now and wanting to avoid restricted free agency at all?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think both seeing him and Moses do two different things for me helped, just seeing the goods and bads to both sides. I don't think one is better than the other, but seeing that as a teammate and seeing how they handled both situations, I think is going to help me.

Q. Brandin, how much do you think growth there was by some of the young guys? Quinton and Gui just forced into bigger roles with so many injuries and the starting line-up changing almost every night. It just gave people a chance to be put into some key situations, and I know that Gui kind of tried to find a positive in that growth, despite some tough moments.

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, I think that's what I was kind of alluding to when I said it's kind of a blessing. Obviously we don't want nobody to be out via injury, but it put us in positions that if everyone was healthy, we probably wouldn't have gotten. I think when you look at long-term success, I think it's going to help us down the road. Like you mentioned Gui, him stepping up. Me being pushed into a situation that I probably wouldn't have been in and seeing different things from different defenses, different defenders. I think it helps us all in the long run, especially when we're all healthy all together.

Q. How much do you think that experience that we're talking about without a bunch of the key guys kind of put you in position to thrive in March and April?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think it was very critical. I think the month of February for me I just learned a lot. I was seeing a lot of different things I haven't seen at all yet in the league.

Going through those setbacks, failures, losing helped me in the month of March and April and the play-in games of just taking the bull by the horns in the moment and being successful.

Q. What's the next step for you in your development this summer? What do you want to work on in the offseason?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, I mean, there's a bunch of things we could talk about. I think if you just look at things from a whole, guys who take leaps or take that next step, you know, the two common factors are the three-point attempts go up and their drives to the rim go up.

Naturally with that, you get fouled more. You get to the free-throw line. It makes you more efficient. I think Jimmy is a case in point of that. Shoots, what, seven, eight free-throws a game. So it makes it a lot easier, and it calms the team down.

I think towards the end of the year I was able to find that a little bit, getting fouled a lot more, and just learning the nuances of the game and how it's officiated and stuff like that.

So just continuing to be more efficient, more effective on both ends of the ball.

Q. Obviously there's a lot of time between now and October and whatever decision is made. In your initial conversations with Mike, though, do you get the sense that they're open to getting something done as well?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: We didn't talk about it. We just kind of talked about the season. We talked about the goods, the bads, what he was impressed with, especially towards the back half.

But I know when that time comes, I know him and my agent, Bill, will take care of it.

Q. To follow on, you mentioned the month of February being a critical month for you. Obviously a big spike in production down the stretch. What did you find? What were you seeing in March and April that allowed you to have the success and the efficiency that you had?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, I think the opportunity that I was given in February allowed me to take advantage of those in March and April. Like I said, getting downhill more, getting fouled more, it makes things a lot easier.

Basketball is a game of rhythm. So when you are able to establish a rhythm at the free-throw line, it helps in all facets of your game. Just being able to take that and understand that there was no Steph, no Jimmy, and the load has to be disbursed throughout a bunch of guys, and me just trying to lead that and show other guys that it's possible to do stuff like that.

Q. Brandin, in what ways did you feel the difference between play-in games and regular season games? Even though play-in games, quote, unquote, are not playoff games, the intensity obviously goes up. What difference did you feel?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I mean, it's a lot different. We just played the in two game sevens back-to-back, win or go home. The intensity is obviously a lot different. The quality of opponent is probably a lot different.

But I think it's just the mindset, the locked-in you got to be to go win those games. Obviously we didn't win Friday in Phoenix, but you know, play-in games are nothing different than playoff games and I treat them as such.

Q. You mentioned something about how some of the outside noise is self-inflicted. What do you mean by that?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think some of the comments that I said early on, you know, wanting to be better and stuff, things like that. Obviously anybody would be better than Steph. I know I'm not going to be better than Steph. He's the only person that can be Steph.

So for me it's just having that confidence, but understanding that I'm just trying to be the best version of Brandin Podziemski I can be, and wherever that kind of takes me in this career I have, that's why it's going to go.

Q. Do you root for the Santa Clara guys that are in the playoffs?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Absolutely. I love to see Jalen succeed. Hopefully he can win another championship, go back-to-back. It does nothing but good things for our program and the Bay Area. Yeah, wish him the best.

Q. Where are you at health-wise? How are you feeling?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I feel great. I feel like I could keep playing. I prepared that way. If we were in the series against OKC right now, I feel like I could play another 82. I feel great.

The lessons I've learned from injuries, from surgeries have helped me through this year and hopefully beyond this.

Q. How nice would that be to have an offseason where you're not worrying about two surgeries and getting your body right and being able to rest, heal up, and do what you need to do?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Yeah, it's a good question. I think having those surgeries and being forces to do take time off I think allowed me to play 82 games this year. I think if I approached it similar to how I did after my first year, I think there would have been a little bit of a burnout, and I would have maybe had an injury or two and missed some games.

But being forced to take time off and understanding my body, I think I really learned that sometimes less is more in those areas. I'm going to kind of take that similar approach that I did last summer in this summer.

Q. This is a bigger-picture question, but I remember when you were a rookie, you said you never wanted to play in the play-in again. How can you avoid that as someone who has more of a prominent role on this team, who is more of a leader going into year four? How can you avoid the play-in?

BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I think for us we just look at it as two segments. The segment before we get Jimmy and Mo back, and the segment when we get them back, and how can we win games before that comes.

And then obviously the hope organizationally is we're going to have the same success we had when Jimmy first got here when they came back. For me having a more prominent role, Gui having a more prominent role alongside Steph, how do we find ways to win games.

Because personal success down the stretch for me and Gui is nice, but it takes you so far when you are losing. So for me it's just going to be tuning in on those nuanced details of how we can win games.