Warriors want to play more five-out offense but Kristaps Porzingis' absence won't help

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is interviewed during the Warriors' Media Day at Chase Center in San Francisco, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle) LAIE, HAWAII - Sets of crimson banners dangled Tuesday above members of one of the most decorated organizations in recent NBA history, a reminder of grass-root beginnings in paradise. A decade ago, Brigham Young University-Hawaii discontinued all athletic programs, leaving an empty gym with memories to collect dust in the rafters: a sign boasting a 1967 national-collegiate rugby championship, another boasting an NAIA volleyball title in 1991. This building, the George Q. Cannon Activities Center, is listed on Apple Maps as "Permanently Closed."

>The center is open this week for the Golden State Warriors, where the long-shot quest has begun to hang another banner thousands of miles away back at the Chase Center.

>It has begun, first, by stripping down a decorated but aging operation down to the studs. Head coach Steve Kerr made clear at Monday's media day that Golden State needed to "re-imagine" its identity, and Tuesday's start of training camp in Hawaii planted the seedlings of a new offense inside BYU-Hawaii's gym. The Warriors are set on moving more modern, as Kerr and his staff are trying to implement principles of a five-out offense - putting everyone potentially on the perimeter - with a patient but early fan in the face of the franchise.

>"I like the fact that there's intentionality around everything that we're trying to do," guard Stephen Curry told reporters after Tuesday's practice. "And day one kinda spoke to that, with the way practice was designed."

>The only issue? The biggest X-factor in this new Warriors identity wasn't actually there.

>Kristaps Porzingis didn't make the trip to Hawaii, after Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy's sudden announcement Monday that Porzingis was out "indefinitely" with a health issue. Kerr said Tuesday he looked at Porzingis as "day-to-day," but he hadn't received any update on the center's condition.

>"We're supporting him in every way that we can with our performance staff, training staff, doctors," Kerr said. "And hopefully, things can improve quickly, and we can get him back."

>In February, Kerr told 95.7 The Game that Atlanta Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh told him Porzingis didn't have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which Porzingis said he'd been diagnosed with in 2025. Kerr subsequently publicly retracted his comments as a "stupid mistake." When asked Tuesday if he felt he and Golden State had developed a better understanding of Porzingis's health struggles, Kerr largely declined to comment, citing a "private health matter."

>It remains a mystery, even as Golden State handed $20 million guaranteed to Porzingis this offseason. But Kerr made a clear point Tuesday: he is not in Hawaii. The Warriors have 20 others who are.

>"We gotta do our work," Kerr said. "We've gotta come here, and have a great training camp. And whenever he's ready, he's ready."

>Golden State is trying to lay the foundation of a system without one of the men who can make it work. When available, Porzingis commands significant respect from deep, and averaged 16.7 points per game in 32 contests split between the Hawks and Warriors last season.

>Even without Porzingis, Kerr said Tuesday that the Warriors are implementing five-out actions in camp. In place of Porzingis - who has hit 1,004 career threes - is often reserve center Charles Bassey and two-way rookie Graham Ike, who have hit a combined total of three career NBA three-pointers (all from Bassey).

>"Maybe not traditional, space-fives," Kerr said. "You still execute those actions with those guys anyway. It just means that they may not be stepping out to shoot threes, but you're still running similar actions, so that you're seeing the patterns.

>Golden State still has trusted veteran Al Horford, who the Warriors re-signed to a two-year deal this summer to stretch the floor as well. The Warriors were already moving in this direction; after years of pairing Draymond Green with rim-roaming big men, they began "leaning" towards more five-out sets across the last year, Kerr said Tuesday.

>"The evolution of the game - as it changes, if you don't change with it, you're going to fall behind," Kerr said.

>Curry said Tuesday that it's likely the shift will show up early in possessions, particularly as the Warriors get set in transition. Such organization is a clear point to another much-discussed philosophical change for Golden State: limiting turnovers, as the Warriors finished 28th in the NBA in giveaways last season.

Stephen Curry practices in Hawaii on the first day of Golden State Warriors training camp on Tuesday, September 29, 2026. (Courtesy of the Golden State Warriors) This is still all largely theoretical. Curry smirked Tuesday that "there's always a great gameplan coming into camp," with an awareness that the group will naturally tweak its identity as they actually see opposing defenses.

>Theoretical, too, because of one key contributor missing in the middle.

>"There's clarity on what the foundations of it is," Curry said, speaking generally on the offensive shift. "But it's still day one."

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