This generation, it seems, has passed Georges Niang by. He is 33 years old, and shuffles around deceptively - deceptively older, as if carrying age on the bones. He tossed out the phrase "mental pretzel" at the Golden State Warriors' media day a few weeks ago, and then asked if he'd get "cancelled" for saying that, a young man shaking an older man's fist at the sky.
He was asked to toss out a few pieces of Gen-Z jargon in late September, at that introductory presser. "Cap?" he asked. "Hella?" He asked if he was good. He was not, really. Both are years outdated by a younger person's standards.
"I don't know if you checked my age," Niang said then, "but I'm old … some days I like to act like I'm a 21-year-old, and the other like I'm 33."
On Friday night, across five raucous first-quarter minutes in a Warriors 128-118 preseason-ending win over Portland at Chase Center, old-man Niang looked plenty young, again.
Golden State opened with a fairly new five-man unit of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Draymond Green and Charles Bassey, with the Warriors hoping to foster some Green-Bassey chemistry in a tandem that hasn't played together much. It didn't quite work, early. After four minutes and a quick 10-2 deficit, head coach Steve Kerr called a timeout and put the youngsters in a timeout. Off went rookie Lendeborg, 23-year-old Podziemski and the 25-year-old Bassey.
In came Niang, who had struggled this preseason but suddenly and magically injected life into a Warriors group that needed it. He zipped inside for an and-one finish off a beautiful feed from Green. He nailed a 3-pointer. And in a back-to-back-to-back flurry, Niang sprinted directly to the left corner on the next possession, Curry finding him for a set-his-feet triple that hit nothing but twine.
Warriors 128, Trail Blazers 118
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PORTLAND | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Avdija | 23:29 | 5-15 | 2-2 | 1-4 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| Camara | 24:00 | 4-6 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| Clingan | 23:38 | 2-7 | 2-2 | 3-11 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Lillard | 25:57 | 4-10 | 13-13 | 0-1 | 2 | 0 | 23 |
| Morant | 27:18 | 8-10 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 3 | 4 | 19 |
| Yang | 20:22 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 3-7 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Henderson | 18:50 | 7-16 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 2 | 5 | 17 |
| Krejci | 18:25 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Cissoko | 16:31 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Kent | 12:22 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Sochan | 12:00 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Tonje | 12:00 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Carlson | 5:04 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 42-87 | 20-24 | 13-43 | 20 | 28 | 118 |
Percentages: FG .483, FT .833.
3-Point Goals: 14-40, .350 (Morant 3-3, Camara 3-5, Sochan 2-2, Lillard 2-5, Tonje 1-2, Kent 1-3, Krejci 1-4, Henderson 1-8, Yang 0-1, Clingan 0-3, Avdija 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: None.
Blocked Shots: 5 (Avdija, Camara, Henderson, Krejci, Sochan).
Turnovers: 17 (Morant 4, Krejci 3, Clingan 2, Henderson 2, Avdija, Camara, Kent, Lillard, Sochan, Yang).
Steals: 4 (Avdija 2, Henderson, Morant).
Technical Fouls: None.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOLDEN STATE | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Green | 24:16 | 2-3 | 2-2 | 2-8 | 11 | 3 | 7 |
| Lendeborg | 25:42 | 6-9 | 3-5 | 1-4 | 5 | 2 | 17 |
| Bassey | 8:11 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Curry | 26:06 | 7-19 | 3-3 | 0-4 | 5 | 1 | 20 |
| Podziemski | 26:37 | 4-10 | 6-7 | 1-3 | 2 | 2 | 17 |
| Santos | 20:55 | 3-7 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Melton | 18:41 | 1-3 | 4-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Payton II | 16:33 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Niang | 16:12 | 3-8 | 5-5 | 1-3 | 0 | 2 | 13 |
| Richard | 16:05 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Horford | 15:15 | 5-8 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| Ike | 8:29 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Cryer | 5:45 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Burton | 5:13 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leons | 3:31 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Toohey | 2:27 | 0--1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 240:00 | 42-86 | 26-31 | 10-39 | 30 | 25 | 128 |
Percentages: FG .488, FT .839.
3-Point Goals: 18-44, .409 (Horford 5-8, Podziemski 3-7, Curry 3-11, Lendeborg 2-3, Niang 2-6, Cryer 1-2, Green 1-2, Melton 1-2, Payton II 0-1, Richard 0-1, Santos 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 12. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 1 (Lendeborg).
Turnovers: 13 (Green 3, Horford 2, Melton 2, Payton II 2, Curry, Lendeborg, Niang, Podziemski).
Steals: 10 (Green 3, Lendeborg 2, Melton 2, Curry, Payton II, Richard).
Technical Fouls: Green, 1:37 second.
| Portland | 26 | 32 | 33 | 27 | - | 118 |
| Golden State | 35 | 32 | 38 | 23 | - | 128 |
A: 18,064 (18,064).
Through four previous preseason games, Niang - who hadn't played a previous NBA game since April 18, 2025 after a foot injury - occasionally gummed up the Warriors' flow offensively. Golden State signed him on a one-year, partially-guaranteed minimum flier this summer as an off-the-bench sniper; entering Friday, though, he sat at a 26.7% clip from three this preseason.
Then he dropped a sudden 13 points in five first-quarter minutes, and flipped an eight-point deficit into a five-point lead, and a smattering of thousands at Chase Center saw a glimpse of a potential rotation staple.
"He generates a lot of offense through his cutting, his screening, his awareness," Kerr said pregame Friday of Niang. "He's a good passer. He's a little bit like (Podziemski). Like, you may not necessarily recognize when he creates a shot, because he didn't make the pass. But he might be the one that just went and set a screen and slipped to the rim and had some defender, weak-side defender, pull in, because of the cut.
"Makes a lot of those type of plays," Kerr continued, "that are really crucial for any good offense."
Golden State's win capped off a 4-2 preseason, an overall-uneven showing in the middle of a new offensive installation. Curry ramped up to a preseason-high 26 minutes, visibly gaining some third-quarter zip and finishing with 20 points on 7-for-19 shooting.
Backup point guard Brandon Williams, notably, was a late scratch with lower back tightness. A source with knowledge of the situation told the Chronicle that Williams' absence was precautionary.
Subscribe
There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at ‘Old' Georges Niang shines early in Warriors' preseason-ending win over Portland.