What are the Warriors doing?

What are the Warriors doing?

The NBA season kicked off on Tuesday with some great matchups, Pistons vs Celtics, Knicks vs 76ers, and Spurs vs Thunder. This is only the second time since 2020 where the Golden State Warriors weren’t featured on the Opening Night slate. The last time the Warriors weren’t featured on Opening Night was 2024, the season they acquired Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline and finished 7^th in the West. That year they made it to the Western Conference Semifinals before losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves four games to one.

The Warriors did, however, get their primetime game on Wednesday the 21^st against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. If you missed the game, be glad you did. The Warriors were embarrassed on national television. Curry came out of the gate hot, scoring 16 points in the first quarter on 7/9 shooting. Only to finish the game with 23 points on 7/15 shooting… Yes, he missed 6 straight shots throughout the rest of the game. The game ended with the Lakers winning 127-105. The score got so bad, Curry didn’t play a minute in the fourth quarter. It was a sloppy game all around from the Warriors, and it really shed some light on how bad this roster can be.

The Warriors were missing some obvious key pieces. Brandin Podziemski missed the game with lower back soreness, Jimmy Butler is still rehabbing his torn ACL, Moses Moody is also rehabbing a ruptured patellar tendon, and then there’s Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis has been dealing with POTS disorder for roughly a year and a half, and it has been very erratic. During some points of the season, he will be healthy and play multiple games in a row and play meaningful basketball. Then a week later he’s out missing games due to POTS.

There were reports from Shams Charania yesterday claiming the Warriors were looking to trade Porzingis because of his uncertainty. It was also included in the report that Porzingis is keeping his options open on a possible retirement. Now I hope Kristaps can get healthy and get back on the court soon, but what was Mike Dunleavy thinking this offseason? Kristaps Porzingis just signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Warriors. It was clear he was dealing with POTS, and uncertainty came with the signing. But not even one game into the season and he’s already out indefinitely. This is malpractice from Mike Dunleavy, and now looking to trade Porzingis is just as bad. Porzingis now, is even more of a negative contract than before. No team will take on Porzingis’s contract without being paired with more value. The Warriors would have to throw in a pick or another player to move off this contract, which will be difficult to do and likely won’t yield a meaningful return.

So, what’s going on? Why would the Warriors sign Porzingis to another contract knowing these issues were prevalent. There have been interviews with Curry this offseason, and when asked about the Warriors chances of competing for a championship this year, there wasn’t too much optimism. Curry had this to say in an interview with CNBC’s Alex Sherman on the Warrior’s upcoming season, “kind of a fun opportunity for us to rebuild everything from scratch”. I think Curry said the quiet part out loud here. The Warriors no longer expect a championship year in and year out like they once did a decade ago. The goal is to win a championship every year of course, but that is no longer the expectation. I don’t disagree with Curry here, being championship contenders, every year is such a difficult task, and being able to do this for 10 years straight is almost impossible. But what is the plan? If they aren’t going to compete this year, what will change next year? Curry only has so many years left. Will they ever compete with Curry a part of this team again? Likely not.

As a Warriors fan, it is hard to come to the reality of this. The past 10+ years have been nonstop high-class, high-quality basketball. And now we are slowly seeing this come to an end. Over the past few years, we have already seen the decline of this team, the injuries, the bad front office decisions, the losing records. And now we must accept this reality of a true rebuild.

But what does a Warriors rebuild look like? You still have Steph and Draymond, and Jimmy Butler is coming back hopefully at the start of the 2027 calendar year. With the NBA totally revamping the draft starting this year, it leaves the Warriors in a unique position. This year the NBA is flattening odds for the number one overall pick and expanding the lottery. Could the Warriors be playing the long game? Just miss the playoffs this year or lose in the play-in and hope for a top pick. Then go into next season with another lottery pick alongside Curry, Butler, Green, and lottery pick this year, Yaxel Lendeborg. This seems like the superior option than trying to force this team to win this year with a bottom of the barrel roster in its current state. But even with this option, I still am not convinced next year the Warriors can compete.

Curry signed a two-year extension this offseason to keep him on the team until he is 40. I would imagine this is the last contract he will sign in the NBA. He might sign a one-year, farewell deal in 2029 when he is 41. But this will be the last meaningful contract he signs. Could we see the Warriors just ride out Curry’s career doing the best they can to compete, but never making any blockbuster deals, and mainly building through the draft with these elevated lottery odds? Then by the time Curry retires, have a young core surrounded by Yaxel Lendeborg entering his prime. I could see this being the way the Warriors play their cards. It seems like Curry also knows this. He has also claimed he is ‘not that type of player’ to jump team to team in hopes of winning a championship. Is Curry content with playing out his contract, not winning many games, then upon retiring, purchasing stake in the Warriors organization?

It is clear Stephen Curry wants to retire a Warrior. He has built this team from nothing to one of the most valuable teams in the league and he knows it. Could the ownership group give Curry a part of this team the moment he steps out of the league? I think so. And that is why Curry is open to rebuilding now, instead of later when he exits the league. If he leaves this team with no draft picks because he forced Mike Dunleavy’s hand into trading for superstars, when Curry exits the league and joins ownership, the team will be left in a bad spot. Even more losing seasons than we are seeing right now.

Curry is choosing his future over a fifth ring, and I can’t blame him. After all, if he is part owner, he’ll still receive a ring when the Warriors win.