Getty Golden State Warriors wing Moses Moody handles the ball during a summer league game against the New York Knicks.
The Golden State Warriors clearly saw something in Moses Moody when they made the decision to select him 14th overall out of Arkansas in 2021. As fate would have it, Moody was equally taken with the Dubs, and not just during the draft process, either.
Moody joined KNBR’s “Murph & Mac” show recently to discuss topics ranging from his show-out effort in the Las Vegas summer league to seeing Criss Angel’s Mindfreak with teammate Ryan Rollins. However, the 20-year-old also went into his past Warriors fandom, revealing that he’s been down since he was just 13.
“I was going for Golden State during that first [championship in 2015],” Moody said. “I really liked Steph in the beginning of his career. I didn’t know him in college, but when he got to the league, I liked his game and I had been watching him and I had been talking about him a lot.”
It was that first Finals against LeBron and the Cavs that really hooked him, though.
“He became Steph and everyone was loving him, everyone was talking about him so I kind of fell back. [But] when they were in the Finals making that run, I just liked the way that Golden State played with shooting threes, running up and down, swinging the ball, so I was rocking with Golden State.”
Becoming Part of the Crew
The fact that Moody went on to win a title with the Warriors himself after cheering for them as a tween is definitely storybook stuff. For him, though, actually becoming teammates with the players he once idolized may have been equally wild as a life experience.
“It was different,” Moody said. “It was something, watching these guys that I’ve been watching my whole life, as long as I can remember. And then just being out there on the floor with them and playing with them…”
It didn’t take long for the 6-foot-5 wing to get over the jitters and get down to work, though.
“That feeling I had in the beginning, for sure. Probably preseason when I’m first getting out there. But after that, I’m doing it every night so it just becomes natural,” he added. “They hoop just like you hoop. We’re all here, and I’m here for a reason, so that feeling kind of subsided a little bit as the season went on.”
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The Warriors wrapped up their stay in Sin City with a summer league game against the Washington Wizards. And while fans got to see former No. 2 pick James Wiseman in action to close things down, Moody was once again held out by the team.
In the two games that he did play, though, he left little doubt that he was a cut above the summer competition.
Moody averaged a summer league-best 27.5 points per contest across his appearances against the Knicks and the Celtics, shooting 43.8% from the floor and 33.3% from three-point range. The baller also averaged four rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals in 30.1 minutes per game.
Although his shot occasionally failed him, the fact that he was able to get to the basket and into the mid-range, putting defenders at a disadvantage and drawing fouls at such a high rate — 7.5 FTA overall, 12.5 FTA in Vegas — is a great sign heading into his sophomore campaign.
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