The struggling Warriors

It wasn t long ago that the NBA was dominated by that team from the Bay Area. In eight seasons, Golden State won 4 league titles and reached the NBA Finals five consecutive times. They are the third most winningest franchise in league history with NBA championships behind the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

They had one of the best backcourt duos in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who were both born shooting a basketball from the womb. And theres the two-season cameo appearance of Kevin Durant (winning back-to-back Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018) plus the defense and toughness of Draymond Green.

GSW holds the league s all-time best regular season record, most combined regular and postseason wins in a season and the best postseason run. But like the weather, favorable conditions must end, and things began to falter for the Warrior dynasty after that 2022 championship season where Curry earned his first Finals MVP.

As of this writing, GSW sits at 11th in the Western Conference with a win-loss record of 12-14.  With 26 games into the season, its still too early to write them off and they can still turn things around, but the team needs to address some issues that could hurt their chances of making the post season.

For the first time since Steve Kerr took the Warrior reins, they had been out of the league s top 10 in three-point percentage. Only Curry had been consistent as Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul had shown significant decline in their point production. The trio are averaging the fewest points in their careers.

Consistency sometimes takes a U-turn as Curry ended an NBA record 268-game streak with a 3-pointer the other day when he just had 7 points in a win over the Portland Trailblazers. Good thing Thompson and Wiggins found their rhythm and led the Warriors in scoring on an abnormal Curry off night. The last time Curry missed from behind the arc was in November 2018, more than 5 years ago.

Then theres the Draymond drama that should affect the team because of the indefinite suspension imposed by the league on him.  His defensive and playmaking abilities aside, his recklessness could diminish his on-court value to the team. With 3 years and about $75M remaining on his contract, it would be difficult to trade him considering his state of mind.

Will it be thank you for your service, Dray?