After a season defined by injuries and underachievement, the Golden State Warriors find themselves sitting at home, with the future of the team up in the air. Can the team make the necessary moves to improve the roster for one last run, or will fans have to suffer through another season of passivity and poor performance?
The Warriors were eliminated from playoff contention following their 111-96 loss to the Phoenix Suns in the NBA play-in tournament final on Friday night. The team finished the regular season with a record of 37-45, placing 10th in the Western Conference. The play-in tournament has become the team’s postseason home as they have played in the tournament four times since its full-time incorporation in the 2020-21 season.
This season, the Warriors saw themselves suffer a similar fate to their NFL counterpart, the San Francisco 49ers, as the team endured a mountain of injuries. The first major domino was star forward Jimmy Butler tearing his ACL on Jan. 19, effectively ending his season. Losing a key piece like Butler wrote off any championship aspirations the team had, marking the beginning of the end.
Shortly after Butler went down, point guard Stephen Curry suffered a knee injury on Jan. 30 that sidelined the franchise superstar for 27 games. Curry would return on April 5 as the regular season was reaching its end, but it was too little, too late. Forward Moses Moody’s torn patellar tendon in late March was the final straw, and the absence of these keystone players, paired with several injuries to the rest of the roster, was the unfortunate story of the season for the Warriors.
At the trade deadline, the Warriors traded forward Jonathan Kuminga and guard Buddy Hield to the Atlanta Hawks for center Kristaps Porzingis. The move was initially met with outrage from fans because of the team’s active and failed pursuit of Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the addition of Porzingis gave the Warriors a much-needed viable big man, whom they should re-sign in this year’s free agency cycle.
This offseason will be one of the most pivotal times in franchise history, as all chips must be put in for the Warriors to reach glory again. It was reported that the Warriors are heavily interested in acquiring one of the following superstars this summer: Antetokounmpo, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard.
A move of this caliber gives Curry someone else to rely on, as the Curry “hero-ball” experiment, where he’s the only consistent scorer on the court, can only last for so long. Taking on one of these three former champions can mortgage the future of the team, but is there a future left to mortgage? I don’t think so, as any of those aforementioned stars give the Warriors an all-time great talent that will provide immediate success, whereas an upcoming rookie will not.
The Warriors’ first-round draft pick is currently slotted at the 11 spot in one of the deepest draft classes in recent memory. They have a 9.4% chance of jumping into the top four, but while that doesn’t seem high, recent years have shown big leapers in the lottery. Fingers remain crossed that the Warriors find their way into the top ten during the May 10 lottery.
It would be nice to use their upcoming pick on a young cornerstone, but they need to maximize the timeline of Curry. The Warriors have shown an inability to cash in on their first-round selections with the disastrous turnout of center James Wiseman in 2020, trading potential rising star Jordan Poole in 2023 and the whole Kuminga saga. Trusting the team with a high-leverage draft selection is a risk I’m not sure I want to take again.
The “double-timeline” of trying to balance both a win-now roster and build for the future blew up in our face, and I would hate for management to attempt it again. Therefore, pursuing all-time talent is the way to go. Whether or not the pursuit is successful remains to be seen, but all hands must be on deck, or else you go through another offseason of “interests” and no action.
This season was the final year of head coach Steve Kerr’s current contract. The looming question is whether Kerr will return or ride off into the sunset after a legendary career. After the elimination loss against Phoenix, Kerr said that he will take time to talk to management before deciding on his future.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I love you guys to death, thank you,” Kerr said to Curry and forward Draymond Green as time was ticking down on what could be their final game together.
I would love for Kerr to stay for one last hurrah, however, I never want to see a four-guard lineup again. Kerr’s constant experiment of playing four guards and Green at the center is exhausting to watch as a fan and doesn’t accomplish anything significant. The lineup is supposed to give the team a boost in playmaking and offensive spacing, but it instead creates big holes in the team’s defensive infrastructure.
If Kerr stays, I hope he leaves that lineup strategy behind. To remedy that, the Warriors need to acquire wings, especially with Butler and Moody’s availability in question for next season.
The Warriors ranked in the top five in highest turnover percentages in the league at 15.6%. They were also in the bottom half of the league in rebounding percentage with 49%. If the seven-time champions want any sort of chance of winning another one, they have to take care of the ball and be better in the battle of the boards. A true ball handler off the bench and a rebounding big man are also major priorities for the Warriors’ offseason.
I can’t help but wonder if Warriors’ CEO Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. truly have Curry’s best intentions in mind. This is the time to prove that they do. Curry is one of the all-time greatest players and still has mileage in the tank, but he needs the right team to help him steer the Warriors to another championship. The Warriors truly are a fading dynasty and the end of an era is near, but going out with a bang would be the perfect storybook ending.
