Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen.
Maybe it’s past time to write off this exhaustive Warriors era. Maybe it’s not only the cool thing, maybe it’s the required rational thing to do.
Before the Warriors can start over again, they have to call an end to this great and waning dynasty. Maybe I should join many of my peers and many more NBA figures and just dial up the standard piece: Hey, Warriors, wake up and break this all up.
But I’m not going to do it quite yet. I’m not going to say the Stephen Curry run is over. I’m not writing that the rest of this season and any season that doesn’t involve a massive rebuild is superfluous. I’m not predicting that everything from here on is a void until the Warriors blow everything up
(Even if some of that might be fairly true.)
I am agreeing that things do not look so bright these days, especially after Jimmy Butler’s ACL tear eight days ago. I am stipulating that, at a middling 26-22 after Monday’s rest-the-main-guys loss in Minneapolis, the Warriors’ season might only head downward, past Curry’s 38th birthday in March and all other alarming actuarial markers.
And that if there is any life left in this dynasty, it might run out while everyone waits for Butler’s knee to heal by some point next season — or be totally extinguished if he’s not the same player he was before the injury.
Yes, a lot of things about the Warriors’ dynasty are already over — this group probably will never be the title favorites again.
The lottery picks never made it into starring roles. Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Poole were the bridge generation, and they’re all gone now. Curry and Draymond Green can’t do it all themselves, though Curry often comes close.
And the Warriors’ best addition this season, veteran De’Anthony Melton, can opt-out after this season.
But I’m not saying it’s over. I’m not saying the Warriors should sell off parts. I’m not saying they should change the offensive system or throw out Steve Kerr’s best stuff (or throw out Kerr). I’m not saying they should tank.
I’m absolutely 1,000% never going to type that they should even think about trading Curry (unless he asks, which he absolutely hasn’t).
Here are seven reasons why the Warriors agree and why they shouldn’t — and by all indications won’t — shut it all down anytime soon.
1. Having Curry means they always have a shot. Just ask him. And he’s right.
The Warriors will never have another player like Curry. Probably will never have another player even close to Curry. Even the very best player they might acquire in the next 10 years might never be as good as Curry is right now, coming up on 38, after all this wear and tear (and titles, too).
Just remember what happened about a year ago, when Curry was just as great as he is now, they added Butler, and the Warriors were pretty great once again. Was that worth waiting around for? Yes, it was. Even if that doesn’t happen again, it’s worth trying to make it happen for as long as Curry is Curry.
And if you blow this up, you probably turn into the Wizards at least for a little while. Or for a long while. Why should there be a rush to do that?
By the way, good players want to play with Curry. Somebody like Giannis Antetokounmpo might specifically ask to join up with Curry. If you keep this together as long as possible, you keep that avenue open as long as possible.
3 days ago
6 days ago
Friday, Jan. 16
Oh, also: Curry wants to stick this out. He wants to play meaningful basketball. As long as he wants to keep trying, I’m never going to say the Warriors should stop.
Even if it’s a figment of Curry’s imagination.
2. It’s not a figment of Curry’s imagination.
Before Butler was lost, the Warriors were on pace to win 45 or 46 games. They weren’t anything close to a great team, but they were figuring some things out. And they could’ve ramped it up with a nice trade at the deadline or just better play.
Back then, the sixth seed was attainable — heck, if Curry stays healthy, it’s not out of the question even now. It’s not likely, but it’s not impossible.
And next season, projecting a few good additions and a full Butler recovery by, say, next December or January, the Warriors might be back at 47 or 48 wins. Again, not the likeliest scenario, but not the least likely, either.
Especially if …
3. The Warriors can trade Jonathan Kuminga for a big upgrade.
I’ve suggested Lauri Markkanen as a target — whether he’s potentially available at the Feb. 5 deadline or next July, it would be a trade that would immediately change the Warriors’ dynamics but also cost multiple first-round picks.
More feasibly, the Warriors could move Kuminga in a moderate deal — say, for 36-year-old DeMar DeRozan, who would take some of the offensive load from Curry and also is signed for another season.
Or the Warriors could keep Kuminga through the deadline and see what he can do — and if he can stay healthy — the rest of the season. Then maybe trade him in July.
How much can a middling addition do for the Warriors? Just look at what Dallas is getting from wing Naji Marshall for a very moderate $9 million a year. The Warriors probably can’t get Marshall, but somebody like him might be out there for the Warriors.
The Warriors are much better because they added Melton. What if they had a bigger version of him, too?
Jonathan Kuminga is currently sidelined with a bone bruise and hyperextended knee. | Source: Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press4. They can never be what they were at the height of this. It’s unfair to judge them that way.
The Warriors are not comparable to what they used to be. That’s true. But who is? The Thunder and that’s it, probably. Possibly the Spurs, eventually.
The current wounded, aging, vulnerable Warriors are still better than most other Warriors teams in franchise history. And probably most of the seasons that will come once this era is over.
By the way, in pure talent, the 2021-22 Warriors weren’t comparable to what the Warriors were in their Kevin Durant Phase. But the ‘22 team still won the fourth championship of this run when Curry went incandescent and the Warriors put the right people around him at the right time.
5. Draymond is less than what he was, especially on offense, but he still is important.
The point that I’ve made for years is stronger now: Draymond is more valuable to the Warriors as the heart of the defense than he would be in any potential trade talk.
It’s really not even close.
His outbursts are not as easy to accept when he’s so often vacant offensively, but the unspoken point is that they also aren’t quite as painful — because the Warriors simply don’t count on Draymond as much as they used to.
He can still be great; and they don’t have anybody else who can match up defensively against the very good big men in this league. But when Draymond isn’t great, or when he’s ejected or fouls out … it’s not as much of a loss as it used to be.
Slowly, over the years, Kerr’s been cutting down Draymond’s minutes. That maximizes what Draymond does best and minimizes the lesser stuff. So far, Draymond is averaging 26.6 minutes per game this season, the lowest since his second season, which is before he became a starter.
The key is for the Warriors to get other contributions from their bigger players. It won’t be the same as what Draymond has given them in his best days, but it has to be productive. (It’s the role Kuminga could’ve taken under better circumstances but never did.)
Al Horford has given them some of those minutes recently. Butler already is the team’s best power forward and will be again when and if he’s all the way back. Moses Moody is another option. And if the Warriors can trade for Markkanen or Trey Murphy III, a lot of things would be opened up.
Four-time All-Star Draymond Green is in his 14th season with the Warriors. | Source: Amber Pietz/The Standard6. Once they hit the button and blow it up, they can’t go back.
Ask the Bulls, who thought they could set up a new golden era after Michael Jordan with Toni Kukoc, Tim Floyd, Brent Barry, Corey Benjamin, and others.
That was 27 years ago.
7. The Steve Kerr era should go on as long as possible, too.
Kerr might choose to leave on his own after this season, but until and unless he does, there’s value in having a man like Kerr front and center. There’s sports value in an all-time champion player and coach setting the tone for everything. There’s value beyond sports, too.
You don’t have to love what Kerr says or when he says it, but you can’t say that he lacks principles or that he is unclear about what he believes. You have to understand that this is at least part of why the Warriors have won so much in his time. And have survived so many crises.
That’s not the only or main thing that matters for this job, but it’s also going to feel very absent when Kerr is gone.
So I’m not going to say that this is all over. Not now. Maybe not for a long while. I’m good with watching the last flame flicker and still wondering if it’ll roar into a bonfire one more time.