Is the sun setting on the Golden State Warriors dynasty? Some would argue that the sun has already set on them. But as long as Stephen Curry is on the team and playing at an All-Star level, the onus is on the Warriors front office to put together a winning team as they look to maximize the remaining elite years of the 36-year-old franchise cornerstone.
The good news is that the Warriors, despite not signing any All-Star-caliber free agents or trading for a major piece like some believe they should in order to boost their championship odds, improved their roster in this offseason.
Letting Klay Thompson walk amid the NBA free agency period may be heartbreaking, especially given how important he has been in establishing the Dubs dynasty, but it opened the door for the additions of three players — De'Anthony Melton, Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson — all of whom would make the Warriors one of the deepest teams in the NBA once more.
However, any team with contending aspirations know that having a high-caliber player of this archetype is essential to fielding a championship team. At the moment, it's worrying that the Warriors haven't yet improved upon this position of need.
This is not to say that the Warriors have had a bad offseason. In fact, that could not be any further away from the truth. But for them to truly be a competitive team in the stacked Western Conference, they will have to swing a huge trade to upgrade at small forward.
The Warriors need an upgrade over Andrew Wiggins
When the Warriors acquired Andrew Wiggins in 2020, his value was in the gutter. He failed to progress as a franchise cornerstone the way the Minnesota Timberwolves brass thought he would, but for the Warriors, they knew that adding a player of Wiggins' size and skillset on the wing is a necessity if they were to return to contending ways.
While they did have faith in Wiggins, no one could have foreseen how he would step up for the Warriors during the 2021-22 season. He looked like a new man, someone with a renewed will to achieve the pinnacle of success in the NBA.
Wiggins became one of the best 3-and-D players in the association, buying into his role 100 percent, and he was rewarded with an All-Star appearance because of it.
In the 2022 NBA playoffs, Andrew Wiggins blossomed into the player many thought he could be.
He may have been memed for his penchant for tallying 17 points on the button every night, but his perimeter defense was incredible, slowing down Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown in the final two rounds of the playoffs as the Dubs captured their fourth ring over the past decade.
But since then, it has all gone downhill for Wiggins. Wiggins seemed to carry over his momentum from that legacy-defining playoff run, but an adductor injury halted his progress.
Moreover, he had to deal with some personal issues as his father, Mitchell Wiggins, was battling a serious illness. He was limited to 37 games that season, and he couldn't seem to get back on track as the 2023-24 season proved to be a disaster.
Andrew Wiggins posted the worst season of his career last year, putting up 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds on 45/36/75 shooting splits. He even lost his starting job for 12 games as the Warriors searched for answers.
Simply put, this level of production will not cut it for a Warriors team that's looking to reclaim their place as a playoff team in the West. This is why it did not come as a surprise at all to anyone that the Dubs were interested in an opt-in and trade scenario for Paul George to try and give the team an upgrade on the wing.
George, for all his faults, averaged 23/5/4 last season on a career-best 61.3 true shooting percentage; he would have feasted on the Warriors, playing off of Stephen Curry. But that trade didn't materialize, perhaps due to the Dubs' reluctance to include their quality young players in prospective deals.
Now, it's understandable why the Warriors want to hold on to the likes of Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski, and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Curry and Draymond Green aren't getting any younger, so the franchise wants to at least have players they can develop that are capable of assuming the mantle in the near future.
But players like Curry, a generational superstar, don't come around very often. If the Warriors aren't rebuilding anytime soon, and their free-agent additions indicate that to be the case, then it might be best to use the trade chips they have to find an upgrade at the small forward position.
Waiting around for Wiggins to figure it out may not be the best course of action, so the Warriors have to be more proactive.
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