What’s happened to the Golden State Warriors?
For the first time in over a decade, there’s wholesale problems for the once invincible organisation – some more obvious than others – with a man by the name of Steph Curry seemingly holding it all together.
Indeed, let’s not forget this team was only recently the envy of the NBA, winning four championships from 2015 to 2022 in one of the most dominant dynasties in the history of the game — for some, the greatest ever side
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Every move the Warriors have made in recent times has been to try and prolong and squeeze every last drop out of this golden era, led by Curry and coach Steve Kerr.
It’s not outlandish to think that dynasty could yet continue, particularly with Curry still in his absolute prime at age 35. One thing is however clear — what’s worked in the past isn’t working anymore, with change in shape or form needed.
After already declining last season, the Warriors have been wildly inconsistent through the first quarter of this campaign. They have a 10-13 record to currently sit 11th in the Western Conference, meaning if the post-season started today, they wouldn’t be in the Play-In tournament.
The analytics (17th in the NBA offensive rating, 16th in defensive rating, 18th in net rating) suggest they’re below average at either end of the court, with limiting turnovers still a big blemish, while Curry’s dominance has probably further masked those issues.
The stars aren’t producing, Kerr is reluctant to give the young players bigger roles and they’re now engulfed in Draymond Green drama amid his indefinite suspension.
Golden State just doesn’t have the same aura it once did when it was once the most watchable, flawless team in all of basketball and made everything look easy. It’s now in fact the opposite as it desperately searches for a spark to steady the ship.
Below is a breakdown of the Warriors’ key issues, factors at play, what moves they could make and what all the big voices in the NBA fraternity are saying …
(MORE) DRAYMOND DRAMA
Let’s get the Draymond Green mess out of the way first, with the veteran forward’s indefinite NBA suspension probably the most pressing issue.
Love him or hate him, Green has been the definition of the perfect glue guy for the Warriors as a key member on all four of those championship sides. His resume speaks for itself — a four-time champion, four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA player, eight-time All-Defensive player and Defensive Player of the Year.
Some would even say he’s the best defensive player they’ve ever seen.
And even though he’s not the player he once was, Green is still an integral member on the court for Kerr’s team and makes them significantly better … when he’s out there.
Green for the second time this season has been banned by the NBA, on this occasion indefinitely, for a spinning punch on Phoenix centre Jusur Nurkic. It resulted in Green’s third ejection this season and continued a host of recent misdemeanours from the 33-year old.
Only a few weeks ago, Green copped a five-game suspension from the NBA for putting Minnesota big Rudy Gobert in a sleeper hold. At the time, the league cited Green’s history of repeat offences as a reason for his lengthy ban.
It came after Green in October last year escaped suspension by Golden State after punching then teammate Jordan Poole during pre-season practice in a bizarre incident that some believe contributed to the team’s undoing last season and appeared to expose cultural issues.
So yes, the Warriors officially have a major Green problem, with the NBA saying his open-ended ban is a result of “repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts,” adding that he would be “required to meet certain league and team conditions” before he’s allowed to return to play.
“My first reaction was shock then sadness. What was striking to me was you looked at the reaction from the Warriors coaches on the bench – it happened right in front of them – and Steve Kerr’s very quick comments after the game,” ESPN journalist Zach Lowe said on NBA Today.
“There’s just a resignation at this point. There are no more defences, it’s just an exhausted organisation and exhausted defences.
“It’s just sad we’ve reached a point where a Hall of Fame level player is at least going to be half remembered for handicapping his team by being unavailable due to violent acts.
“I think the Warriors’ resignation was very very telling … I think the Warriors are sitting around today almost helpless. They don’t know what to do or what’s next.”
It comes after the Warriors only this off-season re-signed Green to a $100 million, four-year extension in a showing they still value him as a core piece to continue with … would they be regretting that now?
For however long he’s sidelined, which is a massive blow from an on-court perspective in itself, the Warriors will need to navigate with a $25 million black hole to their squad.
Green suspended by NBA ‘indefinitely’ | 00:34
It will give more opportunities to their young players, namely Jonathan Kuminga (but more on that later) and could galvanise the Warriors in some way and force Kerr to experiment with his roster —both for the now and the future.
Green’s suspension also makes him untradeable, so you can count him out of any hypothetical deals. It also impacts the front office’s impact to make other trades given how much the dynamic changes without him — unless it just doesn’t factor Green into the team’s future.
His $100 million contract however will remain in pen on their books.
What can’t be denied is the absence of Green lowers the Warriors’ floor and makes it even harder to see a path where the team gets back to looking like a contender, at least until, or if, he returns.
In saying all that, Green is only part of the problem …
IS IT TIME TO PASS THE TORCH?
Even when Green was playing, he was below his best. But he wasn’t alone.
Perhaps the biggest drawback for the Warriors this season has been the lack of production from their struggling veteran stars around Curry — a supporting cast that’s let down the two-time MVP.
It’s simply not something a team with the biggest payroll in the NBA at over $211 million can afford.
Andrew Wiggins has been a shadow of the player who helped lead the team to the 2022 championship — when he was basically the team’s second best player behind Curry.
Wiggins has averaged a career-worst 12.1 points on 41.3 per cent shooting from the field, 27.9 per cent from three and 62.7 per cent from the line with 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists. It’s simply not enough production from a guy playing 27 minutes a night contracted for three more seasons for a total of $108 million (a contract that would also be hard to move).
As quickly as the romantic story came together that was Wiggins finally living up to his potential by buying into a different role, it’s vanished.
Then there’s Klay Thompson, who though his form hasn’t been quite as dire, the sharpshooter is in a similar boat and on the decline.
Thompson, who’s on a $43 million expiring deal, meaning he can hit free agency in 2024, has averaged 15.4 points per game – his worst return since his sophomore season – on a career-low 39.7 per cent shooting from the field and 34.3 per cent from beyond the arc.
It comes amid uncertainty around Thompson’s future at the Warriors following a report from Shams Charania the team pulled a $48 million offer it had tabled to him over the pre-season and separate reports of tension between the player and organisation.
Both Wiggins and Thompson have been benched by Kerr throughout key stretches in recent times in favour of his younger options like Kuminga, Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski. Is this a trend we expect might continue if the stalwarts aren’t getting it done?
But if not the veterans, can the Warriors genuinely rely on the likes of Kuminga to get their season back and track — and push them into the next echelon — while the majority of their salary cap sits on the bench? These are the ongoing problems the franchise would be grappling with.
Unfortunately, former Pick 7 Kuminga so far failing to take that next step as well as former Pick 2 James Wiseman not panning out — culminating in his trade to the Pistons — has been a key drawbacks in the overall direction of the team given they were slated to be future stars and franchise cornerstones. That’s on the front office.
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It’s ideally now about finding the right balance between experience and the youth they do have and pushing the right buttons. That’s on coach Kerr.
“I get the impression (Kerr’s) having a hard time with the political aspect of the minutes on this team where he’s favouring his veterans. In some regards, I understand the challenge Kerr is facing, but the reality is I’m not sure those guys can be the second or third-best player anymore,” The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor said on The Mismatch Podcast.
“Kerr is going to have to figure out: ‘How do I figure out the best balance of giving veterans opportunities and leaning on those guys like I have for 10 years now versus giving an opportunity to young guys who look worthy of the opportunity and players who can help assist Stephen Curry in continuing to be a high level team?’
“Steph is the one guy you can’t question on the Warriors right now and the one guy who remains dominant. He’s having nearly a 50-40-90 season, he’s averaging nearly 30 points per game, so you can’t take for granted what the Warriors have still in Steph at 35 years old.
“More than anything else I think they need to first figure it out internally with the guys that should be playing and how to manage those egos of some of those guys who have fallen off.”
As O’Connor pointed out, before the Warriors contemplate any bigger moves, they first need to get a proper look at what they already have, and that can’t be deciphered over a 23-game sample when Kerr has largely leaned on his stalwarts.
Though we’re starting to see in real time his patience wavering.
According to ESPN reporter Kendra Andrews, frustration is starting to wane over the organisation amid its slow start and myriad of problems as it looks to pass the baton to younger players in hopes of injecting some energy onto the court.
“The locker room after (the Suns loss) was so bleak, empty and quiet – there was just no people in there,” she said on NBA Today.
“There’s a lot of frustration from every angle – Draymond not being able to be on the court, with Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins and the starting line-up struggling so much.
“They say: ‘We can’t talk about it anymore, we have to be about change’. We saw that first change when Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins were both benched in the fourth quarter.
“So moving forward, we expect more Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moodey and Brandon Podziemski and less Wiggins and Thompson.
“The young guys and Steph Curry, that’s what the Warriors are leaning on now.”
CURRY FACTOR
Most other teams in a similar position to the Warriors could simply accept defeat and undergo a rebuild.
You won your championships and your guys are getting old, so push the reset button and go again
But the Warriors are still armed with a superstar in Curry producing at a MVP-like level — he’s averaged 29.1 points on 46.8 per cent shooting from the field, 42.2 per cent from beyond the arc and 93.6 per cent from the line with five triples, five rebounds and 4.4 assists.
So long as that remains (and he’s shown no signs of slowing down), Golden State will always pose a threat in the title race.
After all, they’re not that far off now.
Other teams spend years, if not decades, trying to land a player of Curry’s ilk including countless trips to the draft or all-in moves mortgaging surplus of draft picks and other assets.
History shows you simply can’t compete for the top prize without a top five caliber player. So when you have one, you hang on for dear life, and it’s central to all your decisions and dictates everything you do,
It further complicates Golden State’s situation as it’ll still be desperate to try and put talent around Curry capable of contending during the star guard’s peak. The fact he’s remained so calm and loyal during the team’s recent turmoil speaks volumes about his character, too.
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Though we did start to see frustrations boil over on the court form Curry during this week’s loss to the Phoenix Suns.
It’s a frustration that would echo throughout the entire Warriors organisation right now, and as ESPN’s Zach Lowe points out, his brilliance in some ways only adds to the despair of the current situation.
“Steph Curry can still be the best player on a championship team, that’s what makes this all the more sad and frustrating. This guy is still the guy and the team around him is currently dysfunctional,” Lowe said on NBA Today.
“They’re going to try and get creative around the trade deadline, because they know they know: ‘We’ve got a guy, the guy who’s been the foundation of everything we’ve built here. Steph Curry is still that good and we are failing him’.
“I just don’t know what the solutions are.”
NBA analyst Chris Vernon meanwhile suggested the Warriors have to stay on their current path of attempting to contend so long as Curry is in his prime — and tweak the roster around him as necessary.
“You’re never done being a contender if you’ve got one of the five best players on Earth,” Vernon told The Mismatch Podcast.
“It is a matter of building out around them, it’s what Denver has done so well. It’s the challenge we talk about every off-season when it comes to Luka and the challenge we talk about with Joel Embiid.
“The history of the NBA tells us you have to have one of those guys to be there in the end. And if you do have one those guys, you’ve got a chance.”
Well then, what moves can they make to try and make this thing work?
POTENTIAL MOVES
The Warriors technically already made their ‘big move’ — or at least key change — in the off-season when they essentially flipped Jordan Poole for Chris Paul.
But so far the 38-year old Paul hasn’t provided enough to take the team to the next level, and if anything, the veteran guard is on the decline.
Plus there’s always the risk of the injury prone Paul suffering another setback, having already missed time this season.
A kicker in the Paul trade however is that he has a non guaranteed deal for next year, meaning his $30 million salary is essentially an expiring deal — which would appeal to teams in a trade.
Green ejected for wild swinging arm | 00:54
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor believes a combination of Paul and a young player/long-term asset such as Kuminga are the best assets the Warriors can offer in a deal to rejig the roster.
“I believe they need to make some tweaks in order to sustain contention. Whether it’s trading Klay, which is the hard thing to do, because he’s Klay and he can still produce. Or trade Chris Paul, which I think is the solution, and trade Kuminga,” O’Connor said on The Mismatch Podcast.
“Some of the young guys and future picks, that’s how you help shape the team around Stephen Curry in a way that allows him to continue flourishing in the post-season.
“In reality, the issue is the diminishing talent level around Stephen Curry … they need to make a move for somebody else out there in the league.”
Trading Thompson would also be a bold call given his status within the organisation — particularly with Green’s recent behaviour. How could they possibly off-load Thompson and basically show more devotion to Green?
If Thompson leaves on his own accord as a free agent, so be it. But it’s a delicate balancing act for the organisation from a strategic point of view while trying to keep a positive culture, and most importantly, keep Curry, who according to multiple reports wants to finish his career with Thompson and Green, happy.
In a story on theringer.com, O’Connor said the Warriors should call Toronto about Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby, Washington for Kyle Kuzma and Chicago regarding Alex Caruso.
Thinking bigger and as something as a hail mary, O’Connor also suggested Golden State at least asks the question of Clippers duo Kawhi Leonard or Paul George or even Utah’s Lauri Markkanen.
Meanwhile, NBA analyst Bill Simmons ultimately believes the Warriors “have the wrong roster” and are “not big enough.”
Having previously proposed a Kuminga-Wiggins for Siakam swap with Toronto, Simmons thinks the Warriors have to somehow find a way to add size to better match up with the other key contenders in the NBA.
“They don’t have enough length and over and over again they’re getting overpowered,” Simmons said on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
“The way the league is going when you’re talking about Minnesota, the Lakers, Jokic, Embiid and the Celtics – all these teams have real size.
“The 2016 model doesn’t work anymore. The league is different.
“They have to either get (Wiggins) going or trade him. They can’t wait this Curry season. If this was LeBron, he’d be going nuts right now … they don’t have enough size and they need Wiggins to go. And if he’s not going to go, you’ve got to trade him.
“I think that team is a trade waiting to happen.”
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ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski highlighted any team at the trade deadline has to weigh up “risk v reward”, suggested the Warriors would be pondering if there’s any move that can genuinely pish them into the next tier.
For if a Siakam or Anunoby, for example, aren’t going to be difference makers, Golden State would simply be giving away assets for no gain.
In the case with Siakam and Anunoby, they can also both become free agents next off-season along with other big names who are seen as gettable including DeMar DeRozan.
“If you look at the standings and being honest with yourself as an organisation and aren’t a contender, you have to ask yourself if it makes sense to trade young players and draft assets. To chase something that isn’t there anymore,” Wojnarowski told NBA Today.
“This group has to show management and ownership by the trade deadline they have righted this – they have become more careful with the basketball, stop fouling and make themselves available for games.
“Because you get to a point where it doesn’t make sense, there are only so many moves to make and only so many assets you have to make them.
“The Warriors have to believe they’re a legit contender to really go in and make some risks with the few assets they do have.”