The 2022 NBA Champions did not defend their title the way they had hoped they would. After Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole in the face in training camp last year, Golden State had an up and down season where they could not win games on the road. They finished 11-30 in games away from the Chase Center, only the Spurs and Rockets had worse records away from home in the Western Conference. It was not good enough last year, so they made changes and come into the 2023-24 season believing that they can be NBA Champions once again.
The Warriors made a big splash this summer acquiring Chris Paul from the Washington Wizards, who acquired Paul from Phoenix in the Brad Beal trade. In exchange they sent Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Ryan Rollins, a top 20 protected 2030 first round pick, and a 2027 second round pick to the Wizards. This, in large part, was a salary dump for the Warriors, after this upcoming season, Jordan Poole has 3yrs/$97 million left of guaranteed money on his contract, Paul has no guaranteed money left on his contract after this season so that played a big part in Golden State doing this trade. However, I think it gives them the necessary shake up they need as well. Paul is a completely different player than Jordan Poole and Stephen Curry. Although there are starter rumors swirling I think that Paul will eventually come off the bench and run their second unit and be really good at it. Adding Paul allows you to stack the Curry and Draymond Green minutes together and have to separate them less and Paul can help young guys like Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody more easy looks off the bench. While I am excited to see Paul play with Golden State’s stars, I hate the idea of the Dubs starting CP3. Of lineups that played more than 80 minutes together last season, Golden State’s starting 5 of Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney, had the best net rating of anyone in the sport, and they played 331 minutes together, only 16 groups of 5 played more minutes together. Breaking that up to insert a 38 year old Paul is not something I think they should do.
Another big move Golden State made this offseason was inking one of their own to a new 4-year contract, as Draymond Green signed a 4yr/$100 million deal. Green is the 2nd most important player to Golden State’s success, only behind Curry, and losing him probably would have meant killing this dynasty for good, that’s how important Draymond is to Golden State’s success. The offensive numbers are not where they once were but he remains one of the best playmakers in the NBA and, in my opinion, one of the 3 best defensive players in the sport. He is so important to the Warriors success with how he is able to get the ball to Steph and Klay as they run off screens and how he is able to anchor that defense and make sure everyone is connected and causing problems for the other team's offense. Draymond Green may not be the 2nd best player on the Golden State Warriors, but he is the 2nd most important and keeping him was vital to their championship dreams for 2024.
The West is loaded. The Nuggets, Suns, Lakers, Kings, Clippers, Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves all want to win right now, and while I think some of them are in over their heads (not revealing which), they all have good to really good basketball teams and all can compete with the Warriors. Golden State’s roster has its fair share of flaws, they lack wing and center depth, they are old, their young players have struggled to adapt to their system, and they are a very small team. They are beatable, as we saw last year when the Lakers beat them. They are vulnerable and it looks as if the dynasty's end is near. However, I also believe that Golden State can beat all of those teams I mentioned in a 7 game playoff series because they have Stephen Curry. Curry remains one of the 3 best players in the sport, even at age 35, you could argue he is better than he was when he won the MVP unanimously in 2016, that is how great Steph Curry remains. 29.4 points, 6.3 assists, and 6.1 rebounds on shooting splits of .49/.43/.92 were his averages last season and those are jaw dropping numbers, to essentially be at 50/40/90 at just under 30 points a game is incredible, throw in there the 6 rebounds and 6 dimes and they fact that he is 35 and you can see why everyone is starting to make the greatest point guard of all time debate and why the Warriors will always have a chance. That is how great number 30 is, he has changed the way we think about basketball, the way we play basketball, and he will be the reason the Warriors are in the championship mix next season.
Last season was not good enough for the Warriors, they finished 6th in the West and were eliminated in the 2nd round by the Lakers. They traded away some young players they were excited about to try and extend this window, with this core for as long as they possibly could. The end of the empire is near and may already be here but they are going to give it one last push and as long as Wardell Stephen Curry II is wearing a Warriors uniform, I would hesitate to bet against them.
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