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The Golden State Warriors‘ rollercoaster of a season came to a close on Friday night. They were unable to push the Los Angeles Lakers to a Game 7, dropping Game 6 in a 122-101 rout. With the offseason looming, the Warriors’ roster is surrounded by question marks.
Where do they go from here?
Star forward Draymond Green told the media that this “group” maxed out what they could do. He did emphasize that the team’s core, presumably meaning him, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson, possibly others, can still compete.
“I think this group definitely maxed out what we could do,” Green said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “You know, it wasn’t a championship team, we didn’t win it. It sucks, but that’s our reality. That doesn’t mean our core changes. That doesn’t mean our core can’t do it again. Like, they said we couldn’t do it again last year, we did it. They said we’d miss the playoffs this year, we didn’t. But guess what, we don’t do moral victories, so we lost. This was not a championship group as it stands. But we have champions and we’re made up of champions. When you are a champion and you have that mindset, you just go back to the drawing board, retool, and re-figure it out, and go do it again. That’s what’ll be our focus, but it wasn’t a championship group, as we can see as we sit here and the season’s over.”
Steve Kerr Says Warriors’ Group ‘Maxed Out’
Green’s answer on this season’s group being maxed out, stems from his head coach’s earlier comments on the same matter. Steve Kerr dropped that truth, pretty much unprompted when discussing the season as a whole, after the loss.
“Our guys hung in there, we had a shot, and we couldn’t quite do it,” Kerr explained via NBC Sports Bay Area. “But the better team won. It felt like we were swimming upstream from the beginning. I think we found ourselves down the stretch and in the first round of the playoffs. To be fair, I think this team probably, ultimately, maxed out. I think we were barely in the playoff picture for most of the year. So to make that push, to get there, to win an epic first-round series, and then to give the Lakers a fight in this series and have our chances, that puts us within the top eight teams in the league. That’s probably where we should be. This is not a championship team. If we were, we’d be moving on.”
Draymond Green Wants to Remain With Warriors
One of the aforementioned questions heading into the summer, is the future of Green, whose contract includes a player option for this offseason.
The former Defensive Player of the Year could chose to test free agency by opting out, but even if he does so, it sounds like he’d like to stick around.
“We’ll see what happens as far as my contract goes,” Green said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I have an opt out, everyone knows that I know that … I want to be a Warrior for the rest of my life. I want to ride with the same dudes.”
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, Green has leverage over the organization, but both sides would like a re-up.
“Green has leverage: He is expected to have multiple playoff-contending teams in pursuit if he enters the open market,” the pair wrote. “But Green and the Warriors appear intent on discussing an extension to their partnership, if the price is right. He just finished his 11th season with the franchise.”
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