It's safe to say that the Golden State Warriors are not among the favorites to win the championship next season. Stephen Curry remains elite at what he does, but the roster outside of him, despite all the Warriors' moves this offseason, has plenty of question marks. Plenty of things have to go right at the same time for the Warriors to contend for another title, and even then, nothing is guaranteed.
This may be the first season in a while that the Warriors are entering without too many high expectations. Many experts have them as a middle-tier playoff team in the Western Conference at best, and for good reason, as they don't have the top-shelf talent that teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Denver Nuggets have. But Draymond Green is defiant in that he believes that the Warriors are not done winning big quite yet.
“I know I ain’t done. I know [Curry] ain’t done. So it ain’t like, ‘All right, I feel like I’m at the end. I’m cashing it in.’ Nah. We can do that s**t again. I know we can do it again. I’m not a part of the consortium that don’t think we can get it done,” Green told Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.
The Warriors weren't the favorite to win the title when they won the championship in 2022, unlike in 2017 and 2018. That distinction belonged to the Brooklyn Nets. In the end, the stars aligned for Golden State. Curry was still great, Andrew Wiggins broke out as an All-Star, and they received plenty of stellar contributions from bench players Jordan Poole and Otto Porter Jr., to name a few. Klay Thompson was also very productive in his first season back from injury.
But Green knows that the Warriors cannot afford to live in the past. Times are always changing and they have to get along with the program so they could recapture their championship form.
“But in doing it again, you’ve got to acknowledge that it’s not going to look like it did before. I’d struggle if we were just cashing it in. That ain’t for me. But I don’t feel like anyone around here is doing that. We’re actively trying to put the pieces together to build,” Green added.
The Warriors need the stars to align to contend for a title
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As long as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are at their best, the Warriors have a non-zero chance to contend for the Larry O'Brien trophy next season. Curry is a near-guarantee to remain as one of the five to ten best players in the NBA.
Green is a bigger question mark; he has to avoid trouble so he can stay on the court for the Warriors for as many games as possible, as the team will need his two-way versatility to be at its best. Last year, the Warriors went 33-22 with Green on the court compared to 13-14 without him.
The Warriors will also need Andrew Wiggins to return to form; Wiggins has endured a rocky past two seasons as he has gone through plenty of difficulties in his life off the court, but getting him back to his 2022 playoffs form is a must for the Dubs. Major leaps from Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga are also necessary to give the Dubs enough top-quality help around Curry.
