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The clock is ticking fast for the fading Golden State Warriors dynasty.
With five games left before the February 8 trade deadline and a 19-24 record that is 2.5 games outside the play-in tournament, trade rumors surrounding their aging and struggling veterans abound.
ESPN senior writer Ramona Shelburne reported that the Warriors’ trade deadline moves involving his veteran supporting cast will depend on their franchise superstar Stephen Curry.
“They’re not going to make any moves to that core and break up that dynastic team unless [Curry’s] on board with that idea,” Shelburne said on the NBA Today on January 29.
Stephen Curry’s Frustration Reaching Alarming Level
The Warriors will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, January 30, in a matchup of skidding teams. The 76ers have lost their last three games with Joel Embiid missing the last two with a knee injury.
The Warriors have lost back-to-back, including a heartbreaking 145-144 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on January 27 at home.
On his way to the locker room after the stinging defeat, Curry ripped his jersey in frustration.
“Our whole season, we’ve had some tough breaks — some self-inflicted wounds, some games that you should have won and there’s disappointment walking off the floor,” Curry told reporters after his season-high 46-point performance went for naught. “Like [Saturday night] is a night where you feel like you played well enough to win, almost like the [Sacramento] game and again, we have nothing to show for it.
It just shows we really want it. We’re playing with a little bit of desperation, trying to change the tide of our season and we just don’t have anything to show for it right now.”
Warriors To Gauge Trade Market of Their Veterans
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Warriors are a team to watch at the trade deadline.
“They’ve lost six of eight games. We’ve talked about it everyone is on the table except for Steph Curry,” Charania said on the “Run It Back” on FanDuel TV on January 29. “And so when you think about it, realistically, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski — the two guys that they’re high on — they want to keep long term. They view them as part of their core moving forward. They’re going to take calls on Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul.
Could they get interest even from a guy like Klay Thompson? I think those are very much open conversations for the Warriors. They have to be open-minded. This is a team that’s five games under 500 in that 12th spot, outside of the play-in and they’ve got a high high tax bill as well. So this is a team that’s really clearly [on the verge of a major shakeup], we’ll see if there’s going to be any moves over the next 10 days.”
The problem for the Warriors is they do not have leverage in the negotiation table. Their strings of losses have magnified the struggles of their veterans aside from Curry, who for the most part is their most consistent player.
Even if Curry approves blowing up their core, the return for any of their veterans could end up just like their tough losses — “nothing to show for it.”
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