Former Golden State Warriors big man David West does not appear to agree with most who believe that the Dubs are going to stroll to their third straight championship this coming season. On the contrary, the recently retired two-time NBA champion thinks that this is actually going to be the most challenging season for the Warriors yet.

“It’ll be the toughest year they have,” West told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “It’s going to be health. The hard thing about sort of being in the position that the Warriors are in, everybody gets to adjust to you. Everybody gets to sort of gear up and figure out ways to beat you.”

West has an excellent point here. By establishing themselves as the best team in the league over the past few years, the Warriors inevitably have a target on their back. Every team will be playing at their absolute best whenever they face the Warriors, with the objective of taking down the champions at all costs. The addition of DeMarcus Cousins in the offseason did not do the team any favors in this respect.

West also gave his inputs on how he thinks his former team should approach this situation.

“They’ve just got to be able to deal with the adjustments that other teams are going to make or attempt to defend them,” he added. “It’s going to definitely be a lot tougher in the West.”

West spent the final two seasons of his 15-year career with the Warriors. Having been a first-hand witness to the challenges of defending a title, West definitely knows what he's talking about here.