Golden State Warriors vs LA Clippers — October 4, 2026 NBA Preseason

The most revealing part of this preseason meeting was the contrast in roster construction. Golden State entered the first game of its six-game exhibition schedule with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford available, but Steve Kerr planned to restrict those veterans to the first half and roughly 12–16 minutes. That decision put much of the attention on Yaxel Lendeborg, the Warriors’ 11th overall pick, who earned a starting role beside Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Green and Horford. Lendeborg had impressed through summer league and training camp, and Kerr had already made clear that the rookie had earned meaningful opportunities with the first unit. The Clippers were approaching the same game from a different angle, using the preseason opener to examine a reworked group built around Darius Garland and several new supporting pieces. With both teams managing availability carefully, the real value of the matchup was seeing which combinations looked natural before the regular season began.

Golden State’s tactical experiment was particularly interesting because the Warriors were preparing to lean even further into spacing and movement. The starting combination of Curry, Podziemski, Lendeborg, Green and Horford offered five players capable of contributing to passing sequences rather than relying exclusively on traditional positional roles. Lendeborg’s ability to see cutters and make quick decisions was one of the specific points highlighted before tipoff, making his fit beside Green especially important. The Clippers, meanwhile, had a more conventional-looking opening group with Garland handling the ball and Max Strus providing perimeter shooting, while Derrick Jones Jr. and Rui Hachimura supplied athleticism and size around Isaiah Jackson. Tyronn Lue therefore had an opportunity to test how Garland’s creation could connect with movement away from the ball. The defensive battle was likely to revolve around whether Los Angeles could disrupt Golden State’s passing lanes without giving Curry clean relocation opportunities.

Availability shaped the backdrop without completely defining the contest. Golden State was missing Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody, both recovering from knee injuries that had interrupted their previous seasons, while Kristaps Porzingis was unavailable because of an illness. The Clippers had a longer list of absences, including Brandon Ingram, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders, with Ingram dealing with an Achilles injury and Niederhauser recovering from a foot problem. Bradley Beal was also carrying a knee issue and had been listed day-to-day before the game rather than being treated as a guaranteed participant. Those absences mattered because both coaching staffs were already trying to understand their depth before the regular-season rotations became fixed. Rather than inventing questionable statuses, the tables below distinguish only the players with documented pregame availability information and keep the injury descriptions tied to reported statuses.

The Clippers’ preparation in Honolulu also gave the matchup a broader developmental angle. The organization had deliberately brought training camp back to Hawai‘i and scheduled the Warriors as the first preseason opponent, creating an early opportunity for the revamped roster to play against an established system. Garland’s presence was particularly significant because his ability to create off the bounce could change the rhythm of a team that was still integrating several new pieces. Strus was named to the opening group and was expected to play only the first half, while Jones, Hachimura and Jackson were also scheduled for limited preseason workloads. Golden State faced a similar minutes-management situation, with Curry, Green and Horford expected to see only the opening half. That meant the second half would naturally shift toward younger and less-established players, making the game’s rotation patterns more informative than a conventional regular-season matchup.

What the pregame reporting consistently focused on was not a conventional rivalry narrative but the first evidence of what each team’s new pieces could become. For Golden State, the biggest storyline was Lendeborg stepping directly into a starting lineup alongside Curry and Green, while the Warriors continued developing an offense designed around spacing, passing and movement. For Los Angeles, the central issue was how Garland could organize a reshaped attack while Ingram remained unavailable and Beal’s knee situation remained uncertain. The confirmed starting groups also made the contrast easy to see: Golden State had a veteran-controlled structure with an intriguing rookie inserted into it, while the Clippers were testing a more recently assembled collection of players. Neither coaching staff needed to reveal its final regular-season rotation in a preseason opener. The important clues were going to come from defensive communication, off-ball movement, rebounding responsibilities and which secondary players could make life easier for the primary creators.

❗ Warriors — Confirmed Medical Availability

Long-Term / IR: Jimmy Butler III and Moses Moody were unavailable because of knee injuries that had interrupted their previous seasons.

🟢 Golden State’s Named Opening Five

🚨 Clippers — Pregame Injury Picture

Long-Term / IR: Brandon Ingram, Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Jordan Miller were unavailable because of documented injuries with extended recovery timelines.

📋 Los Angeles’ Official Starting Group

🔵 Tactical Threads Before Tipoff

• Lendeborg’s first-unit test: Golden State wanted to see whether the rookie’s passing and decision-making could translate against established NBA defenders.
• Curry without Butler: With Butler unavailable, the Warriors’ veteran creators had even greater importance in establishing offensive rhythm.
• Garland’s new environment: The Clippers were testing how Garland’s on-ball creation could connect with a substantially reshaped supporting cast.
• Spacing against athletic defense: Strus and Hachimura gave Los Angeles perimeter and mid-range options around Garland, while Jones and Jackson supplied defensive mobility.
• Minutes were part of the strategy: Curry, Green, Horford, Strus, Jones and other veterans were being managed carefully, so the game was also an early audition for the players behind them.

🟣 What the Pregame Conversation Was Really About

The reporting around the game was concentrated on experimentation rather than preseason results. Golden State’s decision to start Lendeborg alongside its veteran core was one of the clearest talking points, especially after his strong summer and training-camp performances. The Clippers generated similar interest because Garland, Strus, Hachimura and Jackson were being assembled into a new-look first unit while Ingram remained sidelined. The teams therefore entered the contest with different but complementary objectives: Golden State was testing how much responsibility its young pieces could absorb inside a familiar offensive ecosystem, while Los Angeles was exploring whether its reshaped personnel could produce reliable spacing and creation around Garland. The preseason setting made the matchup useful precisely because neither side needed to reveal its entire regular-season plan.