What happened to Brandin Podziemski? Latest injury update for Warriors guard (Dec. 28)

Golden State Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski saw limited action in Saturday's home game against the Phoenix Suns after suffering a lower abdominal strain during the second quarter of their 109-105 victory.

The Athletic's Anthony Slater reported the development on X (formerly Twitter), quoting the Warriors’ announcement.

Sophomore Brandin Podziemski, a Santa Clara product, played just 11 minutes, went scoreless and recorded two rebounds before exiting the game.

Despite his absence, the Warriors toppled the visiting Suns, with Jonathan Kuminga leading the charge by scoring 34 points. The win snapped Golden State's three-game losing streak, improving their record to 16-15, just above .500 for the season.

For the Suns, Kevin Durant was the top scorer with 31 points. Bradley Beal, meanwhile, had 28.

Golden State next faces the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Monday.

Brandin Podziemski looks to continue growing his game in second year in the NBA

Following a solid rookie year last season that saw him make the NBA All-Rookie First Team, Brandin Podziemski is now looking to further grow his game in his sophomore season with the Golden State Warriors.

In particular, he wants to be a better floor general, which he believes he has made major strides in since joining the NBA.

He shared this in an interview with CBS Sports, saying:

“I think the biggest strides I’ve made is as a leader. Being a point guard on the floor, guys – no matter their age or their status in the league – kind of look at you on the floor to know what’s going on.

“And so, learning a lot from Steph [Curry] and seeing how he went about things, learning a lot from Chris Paul last year and how he went about it, helped me now.”

He added:

“With anything that you want done for yourself, or things that you’re doing, when you feel good, you’re confident. And so, yeah, I’m a confident person, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Podziemski played in 74 games in his rookie season, starting 28 of them. He finished with averages of 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 27 minutes per game, finishing fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting.

In the ongoing NBA campaign, the 21-year-old Wisconsin native is averaging 8.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 3.3 apg in 25 minutes per contest.

To aid in his growth, the Warriors recently brought in veteran guard Dennis Schröder for him to learn from.