The Warriors came out of the locker room sluggish in Wednesday's game against the Utah Jazz, and they had good reason for that.
About an hour before tip-off at Delta Center, coach Steve Kerr held a team meeting where he informed the players that Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schroder, Kyle Anderson and Lindy Waters III were being traded as part of a reported blockbuster four-team deal that will bring NBA All-Star forward Jimmy Butler to the Warriors.
The news stunned the Warriors, including second-year NBA guard Brandin Podziemski, who scored 17 first-half points against the Jazz.
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"Very sad moment, obviously, just an hour before tip-off, we lost four of our brothers," Podziemski told Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike on the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast. "So it was sad. There were some tears but at the end of the day, we have to do our job. We're just doing it for them. But just try to come out and be aggressive. Obviously, we're a lot of people down now and someone else has to step up and that's what I'm here to do."
Brandin Podziemski describes the "sad" pregame moment when the Warriors learned they'd be losing teammates in the Jimmy Butler trade 😢
— Warriors on NBC Sports Bay Area (@nbcswarriors.bsky.social) February 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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In addition to the four traded players, the Warriors also didn't have guard Moses Moody, forward Jonathan Kuminga and center Trayce Jackson-Davis due to injuries.
Before Wednesday's game, ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported that the Warriors' locker room was closed during the normal open media window. When Kerr emerged, he had his head down, likely due to the emotional nature of the conversation he had with the players.
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The Golden State locker room has been closed just now during open media time. Steve Kerr is addressing the team. Players that were on the floor were brought back into the locker room.
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 6, 2025
Steve Kerr just walked out of the locker room with his head down.
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 6, 2025
After Wiggins came off court following his warmup, an assistant coach, security, Steph Curry all dapped him up on his way back to locker room. In the locker room, couple of players walked over to Wiggins to shake hands with him in locker room. Shortly after, locker room closed. https://t.co/yHh94sCLWy
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) February 6, 2025
Trades are part of the sports world, but that doesn't mean the deals aren't difficult for the players to process. They spend massive amounts of time together and build bonds.
As Podziemski said, Wednesday was an emotional day for the Warriors.