No one in the NBA wants to watch the playoffs from home. Since Steve Kerr’s arrival, it’s been a foreign world for him and the Warriors with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all healthy.
Welcome to the new world of Warriors.
Their offseason to-do list is long. The relevant questions must be answered. Some are more difficult to accept than others. If we’re being honest, the biggest unsolved mystery is whether the Warriors can trust Green after a second straight year of season skids.
Kerr’s emotional response, which lasted four minutes, once again told us what the Warriors have shouted before: They will live and die by Draymond, or so it seems.
With that established, what challenges do the Warriors face in a time of such uncertainty? Here’s your ultimate primer on the five biggest things the Warriors face this offseason.
The Klay situation
Why wait? Those reading this know the main storyline, as the Warriors’ offseason started earlier than anyone was accustomed to. This is the future of a 34-year-old future Hall of Famer who spent his entire career in a Warriors jersey, is a franchise icon and enters unrestricted free agency at an incredibly time interesting for everyone involved.
Even though the “big old donut” Thompson, who was scoreless on 10 shot attempts in the Warriors’ season-ending blowout loss at Sacramento, is still on the tip of Warriors fans’ tongues, replacing him is not an easy next man. scenario.
Thompson played in 77 regular season games, his most since missing two straight seasons with leg injuries. His 268 threes this season were fourth-most in the NBA and tied for third-most in his own career. Many teams could theoretically use a 3-point threat like Thompson whose 38.7 3-point percentage isn’t a waste.
But there’s much more than what Klay provides in depth, including what his role would be if he returned to the Warriors.
“I thought Klay really showed he was OK with the sixth man role in the second half of the year, even though we ultimately put him back in the starting lineup,” Kerr said during his end-of-season press conference. “I think that needs to be an option in the future. I would prefer not to play it for 35 minutes.
“There were games down the stretch, I think the New Orleans game, I think I played it for 38 minutes. We need to be able to play him less, but to do that we frankly need to add more shots to the roster. We can add more shots and limit Klay’s minutes, I think he will be much more effective throughout the season.
Thompson came off the bench for the first time while playing for Kerr on February 15, a three-point victory against the Utah Jazz. In 63 games as a starter, Thompson averaged 17.4 points on 42.5 percent shooting in 30.2 minutes per game and was a 37.7 percent shooter from deep. He averaged 27.4 minutes in 14 games off the bench, but scored 19.8 points on 46.4 percent shooting and made 42.8 percent of his 3-pointers.
Contract, role, lifestyle and more. Everything will be taken into account by Thompson this offseason. Besides knowing that Thompson’s love of his Bay Area surroundings is in their favor, the Warriors have to ask themselves the same questions.
Every Warriors offseason storyline is secondary.
Younger, longer, more athletic
Two questions later, Kerr was asked a follow-up question: If Klay returns in a sixth man role, is his replacement already on the roster?
“It could very well be someone on the list,” Kerr said. “I think our kids will continue to improve. For a while we launched Brandin [Podziemski] instead of Klay. So that’s a possibility. Maybe Moses [Moody] enters the starting lineup.
Kerr also added in his response: “Or maybe it’s a trade-off. This is the NBA, we all know what happens in this league.
With Podziemski and Moody being internal options, the Warriors’ starting lineup would be younger and more athletic. As Thompson’s primary backup, Podziemski started 28 games, averaging 9.5 points on 42.9% shooting with a 33.7 3-point percentage, 6.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists . Moody on nine starts with 12.6 points on 51.9 percent shooting with a 39.5 3-point percentage. Both bring more defensively than Thompson at this point in his career.
Determining the Warriors’ next starting shooting guard is just one part of a larger problem. The Warriors need to get younger, longer and more athletic at every step of the roster.
“I think in this modern NBA, the game is played so fast and we need to be able to play that way,” the Warriors general manager told reporters last week. “We struggled this year in transition, in both directions. Defensively, I couldn’t come back, which is a matter of speed, athleticism and effort. Then going the other way, we didn’t create many turnovers and were unable to get out in transition and use our athleticism with [Andrew Wiggins] And [Jonathan Kuminga], [Gary Payton II] These guys.
“So we have to solve this problem, we have to be better in both directions in transition. And we will seek to do so.
The Warriors were the third-oldest team in the NBA entering the season. They led the league in rebounding, but were also the shortest team in the league. This season, Golden State was the fifth-worst transition offensive team in the NBA and the sixth-worst at stopping transition.
Kuminga-Wiggins Question
Of all the internal options the Warriors already have to be younger, longer and more athletic, Kuminga and Wiggins are at the top. Golden State might also have to choose between one or the other.
In Kerr’s answer about what would happen if Thompson returned as the permanent sixth man, he opened the door to a different discussion.
“Maybe JK shows he can play the 3 next to Draymond and Trayce [Jackson-Davis]” Kerr said.
The idea throughout Kerr’s press conference was that he wanted to see Kuminga progress to a Group 3. Does that mean from the start of next season? Kuminga, Green and Jackson-Davis only played 18 minutes together in the regular season, good for a net rating of minus-16.9 (90.2 offensive rating and 107.1 defensive rating). Kuminga can’t work next to those two as a 32.1% 3-point shooter.
And Kuminga and Wiggins haven’t worked together this season. They played 674 minutes alongside each other, producing a net rating of minus-0.3 with an offensive rating of 111.9 and a defensive rating of 112.2.
Wiggins and Kuminga will be names mentioned in trade rumors over the next few months until their fates are finally decided. The Warriors signed Wiggins to a four-year contract extension in mid-October two years ago. Going into next season, with Wiggins still a Warrior, it seems like this would be more of a surprise than a guarantee.
Joe Lacob’s portfolio
Kuminga is also eligible for an extension this offseason. Warriors owner Joe Lacob has been in love with Kuminga since before drafting him at No. 7 overall in 2021. Jaden McDaniels’ five-year contract, worth $131 million, is already up for know what a deal with Kuminga could look like.
One thing is certain when it comes to the Warriors’ finances: Lacob won’t want to continue spending crazy amounts of money to have a team not even make the playoffs and barely make the play-in tournament.
“I think if you have a team that you think can contend for a championship, you do the right thing financially,” Dunleavy said. “So, we’re going to look at everything, we’re going to balance it out. It’s hard to say right now what it’s going to look like and all that, because it’s April, all of this is continuing into June and July.
“But you know how Joe is with his willingness to spend and compete, I don’t think there will be any restrictions, but we will also be careful. I mean, putting a team on the field that can’t compete in the playoffs, like we spent $400 million this year – I wouldn’t recommend that.
None of Chris Paul’s $30 million is guaranteed for next season. Only $3 million is guaranteed on Kevon Looney’s $8 million contract for next season. Payton has a $9.1 million player option and is willing to redo his contract with the Warriors. Looney has been supplanted in the starting lineup and in Kerr’s rotation as a whole, and Payton’s injury history continues to hurt him and the team.
Yes, Thompson’s contract is the biggest question of all. There are other financial aspects to understand as well.
Help wanted
Dunleavy said the quiet part out loud.
“These guys are getting older, like Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson – they’re great guys to hang out with,” Dunleavy said when asked about balancing the responsibility of a dynasty while knowing what is best for the success of the franchise. . “They are still good at basketball. So I think it’s a manageable thing. Is it a challenge, yes, but I enjoy it because it’s unique and I think it’s somewhat doable, so we’ll see what happens.
The Warriors’ Big Three is the one you go down with until the final punch turns the lights out. How dimly does the light already flicker? Or is it too heavy to lift?
Curry is the last of the three still among the league’s elite. Curry has had 28 games with at least 30 points this season. The rest of the Warriors totaled six: four from Thompson, one from Kuminga and one from Wiggins.
The success or demise of this team still rests squarely on Steph’s shoulders. They’re also the shoulders of a 36-year-old who has looked gassed down the stretch, pushing to climb the unforgiving Western Conference standings on a team where no one else scares the opposition.
Look around you. Turn on the TV and watch a playoff game. These are teams full of stars in their prime, who don’t look back and make no mistakes in the mirror.
Seismic changes could occur. They may have to. Perhaps the development of the next wave of Warriors, along with a little tinkering, is enough in the eyes of the decision-makers.
The former feels much closer than the latter in what is one of the most captivating crossroads the Warriors have faced over the past decade.
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