Zaza Pachulia: How Warriors center handled reduced role

Editor’s note: The Chronicle is reviewing the season of each player after the Warriors’ second straight championship run.

As the NBA trends toward a position-less brand of basketball, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia faces a tricky question: How does he stay relevant in a league in which his skill set is increasingly less needed?

Pachulia has worked diligently on switching off screens to defend shooters along the perimeter, only to watch the much-younger Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell — two prototypical small-ball centers — eat into his minutes. Now, after being limited to garbage time in the playoffs, Pachulia’s career is on life support.