The Golden State Warriors have one of the oldest rosters in the association. They even added 39-year-old Al Horford to their core that already consisted of 37-year-old Stephen Curry, 36-year-old Jimmy Butler, and 35-year-old Draymond Green. But then the NBA decided to give the Warriors one of the most difficult schedules to start the new campaign, as their Tuesday night clash against the Orlando Magic was their 11th road game of the season out of 16 contests.
In fact, the Dubs are in the middle of a six-game road trip, traveling from Oklahoma City to San Antonio to New Orleans to Orlando and then to Miami before they head back home to San Francisco. The wear and tear has gotten to the point of another rant from Steve Kerr regarding the difficulty of the Warriors' schedule, with the ” head coach” going as far as to say that this is the “toughest early schedule” he's ever been a part of “in his life”.
Nonetheless, one of the game's old heads, former Phoenix Suns star Eddie Johnson, pushed back on Kerr's remarks, saying that they used to go through something comparable or something even worse than what the Warriors are going through right now.
“I love Steve, but I got to protect my brothers and him from the past. We played 4 games in 5 nights numerous times. That means back to back to back in different time zones while flying commercial, washing our uniforms in a tub and rarely complained. Go play and love the game!” Johnson wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).
Warriors put to the test by early-season schedule
If there's anything that anyone should acknowledge in today's NBA, it's that the way the sport is played nowadays requires so much more movement. Teams are prioritizing spacing on offense, which requires more defensive rotations and more ground to cover — leading to more strain on the lower bodies of players.
Be that as it may, the schedule should normalize for the Warriors soon enough. They just have to get through this relatively unscathed, and even though they're down double digits against the Magic right now, going 3-1 to start the road trip against tough opposition is nothing to scoff at.
