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In his rookie reason, Moses Moody has bounced back and forth between the Golden State Warriors and the team’s G-League affiliate Santa Cruz Warriors. The end of last week summarized the season for Moody in a nutshell.
On Thursday, Moody had one of the best performances of his young NBA career, in a Warriors loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Moody scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in 23 minutes. Then on Friday, the Warriors announced they had assigned Moody to the Santa Cruz Warriors. That night, Moody went out and scored 31 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a 127-123 win over the Oklahoma City Blue.
Moody has impressed in his seven G-League games, averaging 25.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 31.2 minutes per game. The most encouraging sign though, is that his performances are starting to improve in his NBA games. Thursday night was his second double-digit scoring performance in his last five games, the other an 11-point game against the Toronto Raptors on December 18.
Moody Before the Warriors
Moody, 19, was the number 14 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft after his freshman season at Arkansas. He averaged 16.8 points and 5.8 rebounds, while shooting 42.7% from the field and 35.8% from three. Moody was named the SEC Freshmen of the Year and was named First Team All-SEC. He helped lead the Razorbacks to the Elite Eight, where they lost to the eventual National Champion, Baylor.
Before Arkansas, Moody was a top 50 recruit and played the last two seasons of his high school career at Montverde Academy in Florida. He’s originally from Little Rock and played the first two seasons of his high school career at Parkview High School and North Little Rock High School.
Warriors Player Development
It’s no secret that the Warriors are near the top of the league in both scouting and player development. The recent success of Jordan Poole is a testament to both of those programs. The recent play from Moody might show that he’ll be the next player to break out from the player development program.
The only question will be finding minutes as a wing player who is looking up at Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Poole, Andre Iguodala, Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Gary Payton II ahead of him. Fellow rookie Jonathan Kuminga, too, has found the floor more often.
It’s especially encouraging that Moody played well on back-to-back days with two different teams. He’s played in 24 games this season for the Warriors, averaging 2.1 points and 1 rebound per game in 7 minutes per game. His biggest struggle has been his outside shooting. Moody has shot just 13.3% from three in the NBA. While he hasn’t shot great from three in the G-League, his percentage is much better at 33.3 %.
While his shot from three-point range has struggled, Moody’s shooting has been really good on two-point shots. According to Cleaning the Glass, Moody has shot 58.8% on two-pointers, which ranks 16th in the NBA. Moody has been a solid free-throw shooter in the NBA at 72.7%, but he’s been great in the G-League at 90.5%.
Three-point shooting is going to be the key in the development of Moody. If he can turn himself into a reliable three-point shooter, then Moody could be a big piece for the Warriors moving forward. The good news for Golden State, is right now they have a loaded roster and can be patient with his development.
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