Getty Stephen Curry reacts following the Golden State Warriors' series-clinching loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Golden State Warriors find themselves in a place they’re venturing to for the first time since their dynastic run began nearly a decade ago. Specifically, they’re on the outside looking in at an NBA Finals matchup involving two other teams (in a year when they were more or less healthy for the title push).
Between the sharp regression and the advancing ages of core players Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the club is in clear need of some kind of switch-up this offseason.
Having said that, it’s difficult to discern whether the front office ought to be loading up for another title push in 2023-24 or making a radical shift toward whatever the next era of Dubs basketball is/will be.
With that being the case, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes just namechecked Golden State as one of five teams that are in the grips of an “identity crisis” heading into the summer. And, as Hughes sees it, there are significant hurdles in place where the Warriors finding themselves is concerned.
Uncertainty About the Warriors’ Future Filters Down From the Top
While the Steph-Klay-Dray core and head coach Steve Kerr are most credited for bringing four titles to the Bay between 2015 and now, president/GM Bob Myers was instrumental in bringing it all together.
So, as Myers’ tenure with the team will be ending in a matter of weeks, Hughes is of the belief that the path forward will be more perilous than it might have been:
The Warriors plan to keep winning as long as Stephen Curry is still a superstar, but Myers’ exit makes implementing that plan tricky. Draymond Green has a player option, Klay Thompson is eligible for an extension and Jordan Poole probably needs to be traded after a brutally poor postseason showing. Myers’ successor won’t have his institutional knowledge or [a] decade’s worth of emotional equity with the team’s most important figures.
Every negotiation just got thornier. Every tough conversation just got tougher.
It’s worth noting that Mike Dunleavy Jr., the odds-on favorite to take the baton from Myers, already has experience as the team’s assistant GM and a veteran of 15 seasons as a player. As the top decision-maker, though, he’d be an absolute newbie.
Dubs Face Tall Task in Rounding Out Steph Curry’s Supporting Cast
Given Curry’s apparent desire to go for the chip at least one more time — not to mention the fact that Green can make more money next season by opting in — staying in the title hunt makes sense as an objective for the Warriors.
Alas, surrounding the team’s top dogs with a championship-level supporting cast could prove difficult regardless of who’s calling the shots.
Writes Hughes:
Beyond the Green, Thompson and Poole-related issues that could fundamentally reshape the team, there’s also the matter of building a supporting cast while constrained by the second-apron tax penalties. The Warriors likely won’t have their taxpayer’s midlevel exception to use, and they’ll need to replace free-agent goners Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green.
The Warriors have been too good for too long to lose their sense of self entirely, but they’re going to look different next year. And for the first time in a decade, Myers won’t be the guy authoring the changes.