The Golden State Warriors' 2025-26 season has been ravaged by injuries, but there have been a couple of silver linings to the plethora of players occupying the injury report ahead of any given game.

One such silver lining has been something Steve Kerr acknowledged in the aftermath of the Warriors' loss to the Spurs on Wednesday. Due to the injuries, many of the younger players get extended opportunities on the court.

Perhaps the player who has benefited most from these extra minutes has been the third-year Brazilian forward, Gui Santos. Despite mostly being an end-of-the-bench, garbage-time player for his first two years and the first couple months of this season, he has exploded for the Warriors, particularly since Jimmy Butler went down with his torn ACL in January.

After the Warriors' loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday, in which Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos tied for the game-high in points with 25, Podziemski shared his thoughts on Santos' development.

"I think to see Gui’s development since Jimmy (Butler) really went down has been impressive. Just super consistent person, work ethic. You know, every morning, game days it’s usually me, him, and Draymond (Green) that are here in the mornings together. Just to see him do that through the course of the year and finally get rewarded for it, it doesn’t surprise me. But just like all of us, he’s learning. There’s some good. There’s some bad. We’re all just trying to learn together and grow."

Santos signed a three-year contract extension about a month ago, and it's already paying dividends as he continues to improve exponentially on the court.

It's no secret that the Warriors are an old team, considering the age of their stars. Steph Curry is 38, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green are 36, Al Horford is 39, and Kristaps Porzingis is 30 years old.

Thus, it is vital that the Warriors have at least a couple of quality players who can represent a future for the Dubs beyond the next couple of years, and Santos is positioned to be one of the most valuable pieces for the Warriors' future.

At just 23 years old, Santos has had a career year across the board, and his recent string of games has been incredibly promising.

After the 25-point performance he had on Thursday against the Cavaliers, Santos has now scored 25 or more in three of his last four games, including a career-high 31 against the Nets last Wednesday.

Over the past two months and change, dating back to January 26th, Santos has played 29 of 30 games for the Warriors and has only scored less than 11 points four times.

In that stretch, he's averaging 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.4 steals in 30.9 minutes per game while shooting 52.5% from the field and 35.4% from three — extremely quality starter-level numbers that are super impressive considering it's his first time in the NBA filling this type of high-responsibility role.

Even then, he still brings his signature hustle and energy day in and day out. Clearly, Santos has blossomed into a very valuable piece for the Warriors now and moving forward.