With Draymond Green out with a foot injury, the Warriors had to just change their starting lineup against the Jazz. But instead of simply replacing Green with Quinten Post and keeping everything else the same, they made two changes.
The new starting lineup features Post for Green and Gary Payton II for Will Richard.
Warriors starters tonight vs Jazz
Steph Curry
Moses Moody
Jimmy Butler
Gary Payton II
Quinten Post— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 25, 2025
With Payton in the lineup, Jimmy Butler (6’6″) essentially moves to the 4 and Moses Moody (6’5″) to the 3, which is notable because the Jazz start two 7-footers in Lauri Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkic.
Why Payton Is In for Richard
This isn’t a move to get more size on the court, as Payton (6’2″) is actually an inch shorter than Richard (6’3″).
But Payton is a better on-ball defender, which the Warriors need after getting dominated by Deni Avdija on Friday. He’s also used to doing big-man duties like rolling to the basket and finishing at the rim, which could be valuable for an offense that’s lacking players comfortable doing that.
With that said, Richard is a much better shooter than Payton, so there’s no guarantee Payton enhances this lineup.
Overall, Monday’s starting lineup has played just five possessions this season with an outrageous plus-90 net rating, per Cleaning the Glass. But that’s the ultimate small sample size.
Updates to come