SAN FRANCISCO — No lottery luck this time around for the Warriors.
The team will pick 11th in next month’s NBA draft after their most likely combination of ping-pong balls was pulled Sunday in Chicago during the NBA draft lottery. The Wizards earned the No. 1 pick.
Golden State had a 2% chance of moving up to No. 1 overall, 9.4% odds of moving into the top four and 77.6% probability of picking 11th, the likeliest outcome by way of finishing 37-45, the 11th-worst record in the NBA.
Still, the pick gives general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. a valuable asset as the team seeks to retool for another run around 38-year-old superstar Steph Curry. They gained some clarity on their future about 24 hours before the lottery, when ESPN reported that coach Steve Kerr had agreed to a two-year contract to extend his tenure for a 13th and 14th season.
The coach-player duo has teamed up to win four championships, and with both back in tow, Golden State could dangle the 11th pick in trade talks for another star to complement Curry, such as the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard or the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.
However, a class of draft prospects considered as strong as any in recent memory also gives them the option of injecting some much-needed youth into an aging roster.
ESPN analyst Bobby Marks called it the deepest class since the 1996 draft that produced 10 future All-Stars, including Kobe Bryant. A consensus seems to be forming around BYU wing AJ Dybantsa as the prospective No. 1 pick, but Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and UNC big man Caleb Wilson could all vie to go first overall.
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg, a consensus All-American who will be 24 on draft night, is more likely to be available for the Warriors’ selection and is the type of polished college player that Kerr has tended to prefer in the past.
“There certainly are different tiers of different players,” Warriors assistant GM and director of player personnel Larry Harris told reporters on a conference call before the lottery. “Certainly there seems to be four players that everybody talks about when I look at the mock drafts, but the way we look at it is we really believe it’s beyond 11 but up to 11 really, really good about whatever player lands in our lap.”
It worked out pretty well the last time the Warriors held the 11th pick, turning that selection in 2011 into Klay Thompson. They’ve drafted seven other players 11th overall: Andris Biedrins (2004), Mickael Pietrus (2003), Todd Fuller (1996), Tyrone Hill (1990), Jamaal Wilkes (1974), Kevin Joyce (1973) and Gary Hill (1963).
The Warriors will seek to add a player who can make a bigger impact than any of their previous three lottery selections since Kerr arrived as head coach in 2014-15. They struck out on James Wiseman (No. 2 overall in 2020) and Jonathan Kuminga (No. 7 in 2021). Moses Moody (No. 14 in 2021) has grown into a rotation regular, but he isn’t the foundational piece Golden State needs to help usher in the post-Curry era.
It will be Dunleavy’s highest selection as the Warriors’ top front office official. In his first draft, a few weeks after taking over for Bob Myers, Golden State added Brandin Podziemski at No. 19. He has also been adept at finding role players with second-round picks — Trayce Jackson-Davis (57th in 2023), Quinten Post (52nd in 2024) and Will Richard (56th in 2025).
“I’ll say this: We feel really good in the early stages of our draft prep from one through 15, 16, 17,” Harris said. “[With] the prep work we’ve done and leading into the combine, we feel very, very good about this draft and getting someone that we can add to our roster that will be young, exciting and our fans can get behind.”
