While superstar point guard Stephen Curry trains for the Olympics with Team USA in Las Vegas, the Golden State Warriors brass back in San Francisco is currently looking for ways to maximize the final years of the career of their franchise's best ever player. The Warriors are coming off of two straight relatively disappointing seasons following their championship run in 2022, and with Klay Thompson now off to join the Dallas Mavericks, Curry will have to operate without the services of his longest-tenured teammate.
While the Warriors remained a competitive team the last two seasons, finishing both with winning records, the team looks to be a far cry from the dynastic heights it reached during the mid to late 2010s with Curry, Thompson, and later on Kevin Durant, before Curry and Thompson won their fourth championship together two years ago.
With the team's play-in loss to the Sacramento Kings this year, many speculated that the dynasty could officially be over, and one of those people is former NBA player Charles Barkley.
“They were mediocre last year. They’re going to be even more mediocre next year… That run is over,” said Barkley at a recent golf tournament, via Warriors on NBCS on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
Is the Warriors' run over?
It's certainly starting to look like it. As previously mentioned, the Warriors lost Thompson this year in free agency (well, technically a sign and trade, but Golden State only got a couple of second round picks in return from the Mavericks for one of their franchise's all-time great players). Draymond Green's play is no longer worth the frequent headaches he causes with his antics, which have somehow only gotten worse as he's aged.
Head coach Steve Kerr, who is currently patrolling the sidelines for Team USA, has shown a clear inability to juggle the minutes of his younger players while keeping the veterans happy. Overall, it's somewhat of a miracle that Golden State finished last season with as many wins as they did considering all of the turmoil.
At the current juncture, there aren't a lot of clear avenues back into contention for Golden State. The Warriors could theoretically swing a trade for someone like Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz, but doing so might require to give up on young wing Jonathan Kuminga, who is really the franchise's only beacon of future hope at the present moment. Even if they were able to hold on to Kuminga and get Markkanen, it probably wouldn't be enough to compete with the true juggernauts in the NBA now, most notably the reigning champion Boston Celtics.
While Curry is still a top ten player in the NBA, he endured a few more cold stretches than usual last year, and staking your championship hopes on the shoulders of a 37-year-old in today's youth-dominated NBA is not usually a recipe for success.
In any case, it's truly jarring to see just how far things have fallen in two years for a Warriors team that is struggling to turn the page.
Follow Us
Subscribe
