An Era of Dominance:
The spectacular run of the Golden State Warriors is over. Their dreams of securing a three-peat of NBA Championships was abruptly ended by the hands, or should I say by the claws, of the Toronto Raptors. The Golden State Warriors have come off the back of almost 5 years of complete dominance in the NBA. over the past 5 years they’ve reached the NBA finals 5/5 times and won the Championship 3 out of those 5. They also managed to finish at the top of the Western Conference in 4/5 of those seasons as well. If that doesn’t scream and shout dominance to you, then please take a good long look at yourself in a mirror and ask yourself a couple questions. However, with the NBA Playoffs that has just come and gone, it has left us with many questions about the Golden State Warriors and about the league as a whole.
Golden State Warrior?
With the events of this years NBA Playoffs, the Golden State Warriors have been stripped down to their bare bones in terms of personnel. First, we take a look at Kevin Durant. Former league MVP, 2x Finals MVP and 4x league scoring champion, and 2x NBA Champion with GSW, was left with a ruptured Achilles suffered in Game 5 of the Playoffs. This was following a very swift return from a calf injury that left him sidelined for a number of games towards the end of their playoff run. This hurt them greatly as they were without KD for the first four games against the Raptors and his play in Game 5, even though it was cut short, turned out to be very important for the Warriors. This injury is going to keep him sidelined for the entire 2019/20 season.
Next we take a look at 1/2 of the Splash Brothers, 5x All-Star, NBA All-Defensive Second Team, former 3-Point Contest Champion and 3x NBA Champion, Klay Thompson. He was another one of the Warriors key players that fell victim to injury during this years playoff run. For Klay it was a ruptured ACL. He was well on his way to having a headline worthy performance with 30 points and 5 rebounds in 3 quarters of play. Unfortunately, this injury essentially sealed the fate of GSW. This injury has Klay projected to be out until February/March of next season.
So now out of the three marquee players that GSW have, two are out for essentially the entire season. This doesn’t bode well for the warriors, especially considering that Klay is entering free agency which means he could choose to leave without the warriors getting any players in return. KD is also in the same free agency situation, if he chooses to decline to take up the optional extra year on his contract. DeMarcus Cousins, another player who is also becoming a free agent as he only signed a one year deal at the beginning of the season on a veteran minimum contract. These three players, paired with the potential depatures of Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston through retirement, the Warriors have some problems. This essentially leaves the team with, arguably, one star in Steph Curry. I say arguably because Draymond Green is a very good player, former All-Star and has been integral to the Warriors for a number of years. However, I’m personally on the fence about calling him a “star”, but that’s a conversation for another post.
Teams are Lurking
I previously mentioned that KD, Klay and Boogie are becoming free agents at the the end of this season, and for players of their calibre, teams are bound to be lurking. If you somehow managed to miss the fact that the LA Lakers have essentially signed the monster that is Anthony Davis, now you know. Now, LeBron is looking for one final infinity stone for his gauntlet, and Klay Thompson fits the bill perfectly. One of the league’s best shooters, defenders and teammates. LeBron has been looking at him for a while, and now might be the time when Klay might be looking for a new challenge, and an opportunity to play with two of the league’s best players and arguably the greatest player of all time. There have also been other teams keeping tabs on his situation but Lakers have been the most vocal in their pursuit of the 3-point marksman.
KD also has had numerous teams clawing for his signature. The most notable has been the NY Knicks. After their luck failed them and caused them to miss out on the top pick in Zion Williamson at the NBA Draft Lottery, the Knicks have been hell-bent on bringing in KD along with Celtics star Kyrie Irving. They even traded away star big Kristaps Porzingis earlier in the season in an attempt to create cap-room to pay two to three players max salaries. KD, Kyrie and potentially Jimmy Butler were their targets, however, with an Achilles injury and Kyrie heavily considering the Brooklyn Nets over the Knicks, things aren’t looking up for them. Boogie also has some interest, but considering his age and struggles with injury, his list of suitors is considerably shorter than the Klay and KD.
So with just Steph Curry and Draymond Green left for certain, the future of the Warriors looks very uncertain. What does the future hold for GSW? I’m very eager to find out, but one thing that I am sure of, is that the NBA is going to see some massive changes and it has already begun.
ID The Journo 