Warriors facing harsh truth, enter next NBA season without realistic title expectations

The Golden State Warriors have been one of many NBA’s marquee franchises for greater than a decade. But with information of LeBron James’ decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers On Friday reverberating across the league, the chilly actuality of next season is hitting the Warriors and their fan base.

Golden State was thought-about one of many front-runners to acquire James’ companies, together with the 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Warriors weren’t below any phantasm that James was undoubtedly going to come back to the Bay, though they held out hope it will occur. Without him, the Warriors will nonetheless be attention-grabbing, thanks largely to Stephen Curry and the joy his recreation continues to generate at 38 years previous. But for the primary time in years, they are going to begin a season without realistic championship expectations.

The upcoming 2026-27 marketing campaign has an identical really feel to the beginning of the 2019-20 marketing campaign. Klay Thompson received harm in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and missed the next season as he recovered from a torn ACL. (He additionally missed the 2020-2021 season whereas recovering from an Achilles damage.) Kevin Durant left the Warriors after three seasons and signed with the Brooklyn Nets. Curry broke his hand within the fourth recreation of the season and missed 4 months. The Warriors completed with a league-worst 15-50 file within the COVID-19-shortened season and landed the No. 2 decide within the 2020 draft. They chosen James Wiseman, who performed two and a half seasons for the group earlier than getting traded and is not within the league.

This iteration of the Warriors would not determine to be almost that unhealthy. Curry continues to be on the high of his recreation whilst he offers with a lingering knee difficulty that sidelined him for 2 months final season. The Warriors have extra expertise behind them than they did getting into that season within the type of younger gamers corresponding to Brandin Podziemski, Gui Santos and promising rookie ahead Yaxel Lendeborg. They have confirmed veterans corresponding to Al Horford, Kristaps Porziņģis, and, in the event that they get a brand new deal achieved, Draymond Green.

The drawback for the Warriors, because it was almost seven years in the past, is that they stroll into a brand new 12 months ready on a core piece to rehab from a career-altering damage. Last time, it was Thompson; This time, it is veteran ahead Jimmy Butler (torn ACL) and swingman Moses Moody (torn patellar tendon), who will miss large chunks of next season.

Championship expectations have outlined the Steve Kerr period. After a lot debate, the longtime coach in the end re-signed with the group he is been main for the final 12 seasons. He nonetheless has a ardour for what he does, and he nonetheless enjoys the day-to-day course of that comes with teaching Curry and firm. But Kerr may have a problem this season holding his veteran gamers engaged everyday. They’ll have their moments the place they arrive collectively and win some video games, and Curry will nonetheless present that he is probably the greatest gamers within the recreation when he is wholesome, however the Warriors do not have sufficient expertise to play for the one factor they’ve judged themselves on yearly since Kerr took over as coach.

After the Warriors’ season ended with a Play-In Tournament loss in April to the Phoenix Suns, Curry acknowledged that the Warriors wanted to vary their mind-set to get again on observe. In 2019, they have been coming off their fifth straight finals look. In 2026, they’re coming off a 37-45 marketing campaign during which they completed tenth within the Western Conference.

“I think we can reshape the narrative,” Curry mentioned on the time. “Knowing in the back of our mind that is the ultimate goal, but we have to get back to the basics of what makes a good basketball team, a competitive basketball team every single night. Realize how hard it is to win in this league, but can we rethink how we do things with the foundation we’ve established? We don’t have to keep saying championship, championship, championship every day even though we’ve experienced that. It’s, can we just build the foundation again with what this team needs to do? … We have to “put everything on the drawing board to get back to just being competitive every single night.”

That’s the tricky balance Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy must navigate moving forward.

Curry has said repeatedly through the years that he only wants to play for one team, but he also doesn’t want to play for a bad team in the final years of his Hall of Fame career. On paper, the Warriors aren’t going to be bad next season; they’re just not going to be very good. Same as last season. At this stage, is Curry going to have the same amount of patience he’s had in years past if it becomes clear that the Warriors are headed for a similar fate that ended their season in April?

Curry aside, on a broader note, the Warriors re-signed veterans Horford, Porziņģis and De’Anthony Melton, but why keep them all season on a team that is badly in need of more youth and assets? If any of the three has a solid season, Dunleavy should be ready to move them if a contending team comes calling.

Some fans may not agree given how the season unfolded, but after a torrid end to 2024-25 once they acquired Butler and a second-round playoff exit in which Curry missed the final four games, the Warriors walked into the last season believing that, if everything fell into place, they had the chance to contend for another title. It’s why the moves to bring in all three veterans could be explained at the time. That hope is gone now, and James’ decision only amplifies the fact that the Warriors need to focus on their future a lot more than their present.

If Curry wants to play out the final days of his extraordinary career in the Bay, the Warriors should roll out the red carpet for him every night. He has earned every dollar he’s made and has created a generation of fans that will stay loyal to the team even after he retires, the same way Michael Jordan did for the Chicago Bulls. Curry is entering the final year of his current max deal, which pays him over $63 million this season. He said at the end of last season that he’s open to a contract extension, one that the Warriors would be eligible to sign him next month.

But as much as Warriors owner Joe Lacob feels indebted to Curry, the Warriors have to face the reality that this core’s best days are long behind them now. They shouldn’t be making moves to help them stay competitive now out of loyalty to Curry, because those moves might harm what they may be able to do long after he retires.

The chase for James offered a last chance at bringing light to the “fading dynasty” Kerr spoke about final season. If James thought the Warriors might nonetheless win yet one more title, he’d be headed to San Francisco, not Philadelphia.

Now that the sunshine has light, the Warriors want to return to that drafting board Curry spoke about. They can nonetheless play a good model of basketball and be sure that Curry might be pleased with the trouble his group is placing in each night time throughout the tradition that he helped construct. But they will not stroll into one other season believing they’ve an opportunity at enjoying within the greatest video games that matter.

That distinction doubtless occurred some time in the past, however James’ resolution cemented it.