{"id":903233,"date":"2026-11-02T13:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T13:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/903233\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T13:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T13:14:27","slug":"gui-santos-encore-to-breakout-hinges-on-simple-characteristic-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/903233\/","title":{"rendered":"Gui Santos\u2019 encore to breakout hinges on simple characteristic \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Signing a three-year, $15 million contract<\/a> at the end of February last season was monumental in Gui Santos<\/a>\u2019 journey. Life-changing money represented a road from Brazil<\/a> to the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft as the No. 55 overall pick, years of developing in the G League<\/a> and now becoming one of basketball\u2019s best stories<\/a> as one of the Warriors\u2019 key players.<\/p>\n

Inking the contract was a no-brainer for Santos, though it quickly looked like a steal for the Warriors. Santos will always believe signing instead of hitting restricted free agency was an easy decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A little more than four months later, Santos is even more sure he made the best decision of his life by marrying his longtime girlfriend Julia Lawrenz last July in her hometown of Curitiba, Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cJulia, she\u2019s a real partner,\u201d Santos said after Warriors open practice, days before the start of the regular season. \u201cShe really understands me really well. There\u2019s days where you don\u2019t want to do nothing, you just want to chill, she\u2019s there with me. But there\u2019s days where for some reason you have a bad practice or bad game, she\u2019s the one that helps me leave that behind and think about the next game or next practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really good, she\u2019s been helping me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos has never second-guessed his forever commitment to Julia, and the Warriors feel they\u2019ve struck gold in their commitment to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was one of the breakout NBA players last season. The key to his encore isn\u2019t so much about a single skill like shooting. Santos\u2019 next steps center around what he has been best at the past few months off the court: Decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santos was inactive for the game last season when Jimmy Butler tore his ACL against the Miami Heat on Jan.19. The Warriors\u2019 season came to a halt when Butler held his knee on the Chase Center floor. They had to move on as quickly as they could, and Santos soon found himself in a much different role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of being mainly an energizer, Santos was relied upon much more as a scorer with the ball in his hands. Santos averaged 14.3 points per game the rest of the regular season, starting 28 of the 35 games he played, and shot over 50 percent from the field. But Santos also averaged 2.2 turnovers per game in the span, including nine games of at least four turnovers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He averaged just 0.8 turnovers per game in his first 33 games of the season, starting just twice and scoring only 3.7 points per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve talked to him about this,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said at practice, the day before the final preseason game. \u201cI thought late last season was great for him to have to take on that playmaking responsibility without Jimmy, without Steph. He made a lot of mistakes, but he made a lot of great plays. So this year is more about improving the assist-to-turnover ratio. Make the plays that you have to make, but be more cautious. You don’t need to be wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a healthy Steph Curry scoring a combined 75 points in the Warriors\u2019 last two games, rookie Yaxel Lendeborg having the ability to score 20 and even 30 points, and Brandin Podziemski continuing to progress as a scorer, Santos now can complement them while sliding into a role that better serves his style.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year you had to be a little wild at times to try to force things because we didn’t have enough. We have enough now,\u201d Kerr says, regarding his message to Santos. \u201c… We can’t force the issue, and I think sometimes he is forcing the issue, but he’s perfectly cut out to play the style we\u2019re playing, because he\u2019s got a lot of skill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerr\u2019s message came after a preseason game in which Santos had three turnovers, and five the previous game. He didn\u2019t commit any in the preseason finale after Kerr\u2019s talking points.<\/p>\n

Though the Warriors didn\u2019t yet know what they had in Lendeborg, they knew Santos\u2019 being free with the ball needed to be reigned in. That was the message relayed to him going into the offseason, and it translated into how he took on his training.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Santos has considerably changed his body from when he weighed less than 200 pounds before being drafted to now being a strong 225 pounds on his 6-foot-7 frame. His 3-point shot is now part of his arsenal, and his footwork around the rim can be ranked among basketball\u2019s best. Each drill training in Brazil centered around what to do next, what decision was best for himself and the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst thing was my decision-making,\u201d Santos says of his offseason focus. \u201cEvery time I was doing some drill, the goal of the drill was to make sure I get into the paint and have control of the game. I need to know where I\u2019m going to pass the ball next, how I\u2019m going to go up, how I\u2019m going to use my step-through and footwork to get around guys so I can finish. That was the thing I worked on most during the offseason.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked how he felt about his game going into the season, Santos\u2019 answer was hardly about himself. It was a reflection of still being the player who provides energy, and now refining the little things that lead to wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to take care of the ball and help on the defensive end,\u201d Santos said. \u201cWe need to keep Steph 100 percent on offense, so I will be the one to run always on defense. I\u2019m the guy who will do whatever they need me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos, however, isn\u2019t feeling 100 percent healthy. He\u2019s closer to 85 percent as he deals with left knee tendinitis, but told NBC Sports Bay Area that he\u2019d much rather play at less than full strength and give his team everything he has than have them be more hampered as a short-handed team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s his decision to make, and the Warriors\u2019 medical staff clearing him. Golden State is hungry for wins after turning around a 0-3 start, and Santos is an essential puzzle piece. The key to his encore season after his breakout isn\u2019t about massive leaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about him honing in on who he had to become last season through smart decisions this season, and continuing to represent a Portuguese phrase he prides himself on:\u00a0vontade de vencer.<\/p>\n

Santos translates the words as \u201ca desire to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Signing a three-year, $15 million contract at the end of February last season was monumental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[76878,355,99],"class_list":["post-903233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-gui-santos","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}