Getting kicked out of AAU practice made Brandin Podziemski the Warriors’ $110 million man.

Brandin Podziemski could go. Maybe it was right there. He could have flipped the switch seven years ago and walked away from his gym in Wisconsin. You couldn’t blame him. His coach had just kicked him out of practice.

Instead, a butterfly flapped its wings, the dominoes fell, and Podziemski sat on his locker at the Chase Center Saturday night, the humble owner of a new $110 million contract. Generational wealth for the 23-year-old from Milwaukee. Enough for all the people he jumped on FaceTime with on Friday night after finalizing his extension with his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and the Golden State Warriors and future grandchildren. He doesn’t come here until the day Antonio Curro kicks him out of the gym, he knows.

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“Today is special for me,” Podziemski recalled to the Chronicle.

It was September 2020, and Podziemski was training with Curro’s AAU team in a sweltering Wisconsin gym called The Barn. When everyone walks into the Barn, they probably see 6-foot-8 forward Jalen Johnson, an All-NBA talent with the Hawks. Or five-star Patrick Baldwin Jr. They did not notice Podziemski, then a talented and precocious young guard with a curly mop. He wanted attention. He was 17, and 17-year-olds want to understand very little of the world.

Body language, this exercise was bad. Podziemski was already acting like someone who thought he was better than the one in front of him. So Curro sent him off and Podziemski spent the entire practice sitting in his car.

He could go. Instead, he sat down. And I thought. And if he really wanted it, he thought. And he went back to the gym, apologized to Kurro and heard him.

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if you change Curro told Pod Ziemia, I will change your life. If you don’t, you will be disappointed.

Podziemski changed.

“It made me kind of check myself,” Podziemski said Saturday. “Check my ego. At the time, I just thought I was better than I was…it was just a turning point for me and I was like, ‘I’m not good enough to be where I want to be.’

“So from that day on, it kind of changed how I approach the day-to-day process, how I think about how I do things,” he says. “And the rest is history.”

History is complicated. Caught in the middle of a dynasty crumbling history, a 20-year-old tries to grow in the space between the cracks. History continues to struggle with the system and culture in place for more than a decade, with an unwavering and prevailing self-belief against how much assertiveness is needed in the Golden State.

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“He has a few sound bites that make me want to run off the wall a little bit,” said Curro, Podziemski’s longtime mentor and CEO of the NY2LA Sports basketball organization. “It’s one of those – you see it, you just put your head in your hands. ‘Come on, man.’

Does Podziemski really believe he can be better than Stephen Curry? No. The thing is, he will try to be. In those days at Wisconsin, Podziemski would try to beat Baldwin’s marks in pitching practice, as Curro recalls. She always believes that she belongs in the room and is looking for the best guy to prove it.

“I’m pretty sure Brandin Podziemski was born into this world with incredible faith,” Curro said.

Podziemski wouldn’t be here without him. But it has bitten him before. Confidence led to impatience in the AAU days, as Podziemski’s recruitment wasn’t gaining much steam amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every missed shot brought visible frustration as Curro felt Podziemski wanted it all. now.

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So after Podziemski apologized that September, Curro told him he needed to adjust his mentality. And with that, his effort.

“The thought process was, ‘When you came here, you didn’t come here to absorb the culture and then benefit, but to use what we did for yourself,'” Curro recalled.

Years later — not that many years later — Podziemski went through the same process at Golden State. As Curro recalls, he was thrown out briefly in 2023 when the Warriors sent him to the G-League affiliate in Santa Cruz in the early days of his rookie year. He spent three seasons in Steve Kerr’s starting lineup, trying to fall behind Klay Thompson and Chris. 2024-25 until the last sign that the team is in full focus amid injuries in 2025-26.

Patience is a beautiful thing, Podziemski said Saturday. He learned it was hard to get. He’s getting there at age 23 and now has at least four more seasons of guaranteed growth with Golden State set before him.

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“When I was younger, it was a little more difficult,” Podziemski said Saturday, asked to balance his confidence with internal expectations of his role in Golden State. “Because when you’re a young player, you want what’s best for the team, especially if they draft you. But you also want to establish yourself as an individual and show that you’re worth being around.

“And so you struggle with the balance of team success and individual success, the feelings that come with both.”

Golden State still needs a 2023 first-round pick to match whatever the final years of the Curry era bring. But this five-year, $110 million rookie extension is also a clear indication that the organization thinks Podziemski is the bridge between the Warriors’ present and future. He’s far from a star-level contributor, but has improved as a point guard and secondary offensive creator to complement Curry’s backcourt.

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Veteran Gary Payton II said Saturday, “Now the system fits him and is shaped around him.”

The Warriors’ new five offense principles, as Kerr said Saturday, “play right” to Podziemski’s skill set. This was shown in the current season. Starting the game with five players around the perimeter often opens wide lanes for Podziemski to cut into the paint off the ball. He finished plus-18 with 14 points and three 3-pointers against Sacramento Saturday.

Podziemski said Payton will have to get back into shape when Curry and Draymond Green are no longer in Warriors uniforms. It begged the question: Does the 33-year-old Payton, a Golden State lifer like any role player on the Warriors’ roster, see Podziemski as a player who can pick up the torch once the old guard is gone?

“Well, yeah — today,” Payton said, referring to Podziemski’s game against Sacramento. “He seems to be one of those torch-bearers who, when that happens, will have a chance to lead the team. If he’s not here, he’ll certainly be somewhere else.

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“So when these guys are gone, he’s set up to take over,” Payton continued. “And him and Yaxel (Lendeborg) and the rest of this young core. So if all goes well and he stays focused … it’ll be for him.”

Not much has changed since Podziemski’s extension ended Thursday. He told Curro he had a game the next day. After a few forced plays, he silently entered the locker room happy-i-am-here press conference speeches. At age 14, Podziemski told his parents he would go to the NBA if they let him switch from baseball to basketball.

At the podium after the game, someone asked him if he still saw himself as the player he is today in eighth grade.

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“I’d like to think so,” Podziemski said.

As Curro says, incredibly confident. Always. But Podziemski learned how to shape it after it came out of storage. And the Warriors need it long-term.

“I will say to those who doubt him, to those who continue – please,” said Curro, who speaks daily with Podziemski. “Because all he’s doing is adding fuel to the fire. And all he’s doing is continuing to grow. All I’m doing is using him as motivation. So he’s a confident, elite character who’s done nothing but fight for everything he’s ever done.

“He wasn’t born with a silver spoon,” Curro continued. “He wasn’t given everything in life. He fought for it. He suffered for it. He earned every dollar that was given to him. He was doubted many times. He was vilified by social media pundits for no reason … to not understand what he brings to the table, to the court, is complete, like, poor analysis. Yeah, he’s wrong?

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“Are there any 23-year-olds who aren’t there?”

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This article was originally published here Getting kicked out of AAU practice made Brandin Podziemski the Warriors’ $110 million man..