Preview: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors: Player props, injury report and prediction | NBA

The Memphis Grizzlies take Ty Jerome’s record-setting season opener to Chase Center for a 3am tip-off on Saturday, where the Golden State Warriors play their first home game of the season after a 22-point defeat at the Lakers.

Golden State won all three meetings last season, but the roster that lost those games has been rebuilt since Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. were all traded away.

Form and outlook for Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors

Form Guide

Memphis Grizzlies

1-0 · 5th in the West

Last 5 (2025-26 finish and 2026-27 opener)

L L L L W

123.0PPG

103.0Opp PPG

118.3Off. rating

99.0Def. rating

Golden State Warriors

0-1 · 11th in the West

Last 5 (2025-26 finish and 2026-27 opener)

L L W L L

105.0PPG

127.0Opp PPG

102.9Off. rating

124.5Def. rating

Memphis opened the post-Morant era with a home win over Utah, trailing after the first quarter before an 18-4 run to start the third settled the game.

Jerome made 17 of his 25 shots, Jerami Grant and GG Jackson scored a combined 27 points off the bench, and Cameron Boozer shot 2-of-15 on his debut yet still pulled down 11 rebounds.

Golden State went the other way at the Lakers, with Stephen Curry scoring 16 points in the first quarter before the Warriors faded and trailed by as many as 35.

They turned the ball over 16 times, shot 8-of-36 from three and got two points and eight assists from Draymond Green, who started at center.

Curry still scored 23 points at the Lakers, so the Warriors’ problem was a supporting cast that could not keep pace once Los Angeles pulled clear.

One game exaggerates every gap, so last season gives better context, and it was bleak for both clubs.

Memphis finished 25-57 and lost their last eight games, including a 46-point defeat at Utah, while Golden State went 37-45 and lost the play-in game at Phoenix after beating the Clippers.

Memphis are fifth in the Western Conference and Golden State 11th, but after one game each, how the NBA season works means those positions say almost nothing yet.

What the Grizzlies vs. Warriors team news means for rotations

Golden State are nursing several injury blows, with Jimmy Butler III (torn right ACL) and Moses Moody (ruptured left patellar tendon) out and Kristaps Porzingis out indefinitely and away from the team.

Brandin Podziemski (lower back) and Charles Bassey (right patellar tendinopathy) are both questionable, and Steve Kerr has said the Warriors are hopeful that Podziemski returns for the home opener.

The projected Warriors starting five matches the one that began at the Lakers, with Curry, De’Anthony Melton, Yaxel Lendeborg, Gui Santos and Green.

Memphis list only Stewart as questionable, so Jerome, Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, Boozer and Zach Edey should start again, with Grant and Jackson leading a bench that scored freely against Utah.

Neither side is on the second night of a back-to-back, and this is the first game of Golden State’s back-to-back and the start of Memphis’s four-game road trip.

The matchups that could decide Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors

Key Matchups

Point guard engines

Ty Jerome

MEM

VS

Stephen Curry

GSW

45Jerome opener pts

23Curry opener pts

15.5Jerome pre-season PPG

13.0Curry pre-season PPG

Both teams run their offence through these two, so whoever controls pace and shot selection sets the terms.

Size against spacing at centeR

Zach Edey

MEM

VS

Draymond Green

GSW

9Edey opener reb

4Green opener reb

6Edey opener pts

8Green opener ast

Edey is listed at 7-foot-3 and Green at 6-foot-6, so Golden State must win through passing and help defence rather than size.

Rookie forwards

Cameron Boozer

MEM

VS

Yaxel Lendeborg

GSW

14.0Boozer pre-season PPG

15.6Lendeborg pre-season PPG

5.5Boozer pre-season RPG

7.4Lendeborg pre-season RPG

Boozer went third and Lendeborg 11th in the draft, and both are being asked to produce immediately for rebuilt rotations.

Jerome and Curry are the two players most likely to dictate tempo, and Jerome’s record opening night has to be weighed against a career in which his previous best was 33 points.

The center contest is the least symmetrical, since Edey’s size is paired against Green’s experience, which pushes Golden State towards switching and helping rather than a straight battle on the glass.

The rookie duel between Boozer, the third pick, and Lendeborg, the 11th, matters because Boozer needs a cleaner shooting night than 2-of-15 to justify the attention defenders gave him.

Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors player props to consider

Player Props to Watch

Stephen CurryGSW

PointsUnder 28.5

23.0Season PPG (1 GP)

13.0Pre-season PPG (5 GP)

He averaged 26.6 last season and scored 23 in the opener, so a number above both invites the under.

Ty JeromeMEM

PointsUnder 26.5

45.0Season PPG (1 GP)

15.5Pre-season PPG (4 GP)

Repeating a 17-of-25 shooting night would be an outlier for a player whose career high stood at 33 before it.

How the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors met last season

Golden State won all three meetings last season, and the closest was the 114-113 result at Chase Center on February 9.

The Warriors then won by 21 at FedExForum on February 25, after a 131-118 victory in San Francisco on October 27.

Jaylen Wells is the one Memphis player who also featured in the October 27 defeat, so the history is largely a Warriors story told against a different cast.

Four meetings are scheduled this season, with Memphis hosting on November 19 and December 14 before a return to Chase Center on March 17, 2027.

Our Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors tips and prediction

A narrow Golden State win looks most likely, since Curry and Green give the Warriors a floor at home, but Memphis’ bench scoring and the absences of Butler, Moody and Porzingis should keep the margin tight late on.

Two of the three meetings last season were decided by 13 points or fewer, which supports taking the points with Memphis rather than backing them to win outright.