After the departure of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson's devastating injury, most NBA pundits are picking the Golden State Warriors to drop significantly in the standings. Former player and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose predicted that the Dubs would drop to seventh in the 2019-20 season:
“They'll be in the seven seed. Steph Curry probably won't play all 82 games for obvious reasons. Draymond Green is gonna be terrific this year in a contract season. Klay Thompson isn't playing. D'Angelo Russell is gonna supplement them very well on the offensive side. But defensively, he and Steph in the backcourt are gonna struggle against the best guards in the Western Conference.”
The Warriors will obviously miss Durant and Thompson's firepower. Thankfully, they brought in D'Angelo Russell to help recover the missing offense with the two stars gone.
However, they have not found a replacement for Thompson on the defensive end. In fact, they lost not only Thompson but Andre Iguodala as well. It looks like the Warriors could struggle mightly defensively, especially in the backcourt.
Rose is right that the Warriors will probably end up at around the seventh seed. It would be quite a shock if the team that won three championships in the last five years failed to make the playoffs, even after the significant losses.
While the Warriors are in a weakened state, it'd be a mistake to take them lightly. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will still carry the team to a respectable record.
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