Warriors Dynasty Meets A Crossroad
As the last seconds ticked away in the Crypto.com Arena in Game Six of the Western Conference Semifinals, the Laker faithful celebrated a return to the Western Conference Finals while on the other side, the reigning champion Golden State Warriors season came to a disappointing end.
The season was marred with controversy from the start as training camp footage of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole did considerable damage to the team before the season had even started. All seemed well on opening night, ironically against the same opponents that ended their season, as the Warriors cruised to a 123-109 victory. Though things quickly got out of hand.
The Warriors didn’t win a game on the road for a full month to start the season, and would go on the have the biggest home-away split in the NBA, with a record of 33-8 at home and 11-30 on the road; not what you would expect from a largely veteran team coming off a championship.
Nagging injuries to Stephen Curry throughout the regular season, Andrew Wiggins’ absence, Poole’s inconsistency, or the overall lack of bench help can all be blamed for this season's struggles. This leaves the franchise at a crossroads heading into next season and a lot of variables will affect how the Warriors move to put together a more competitive team.
One of those variables is the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Player’s Association. The league instituted a concept referred to as “cap smoothing”, which essentially means that the salary cap can not increase by more than 10 percent in a given year. This goes on to affect free agency and limits how teams can use the mid-level exception if they are already above the projected salary cap limit, as the Warriors often are. This is all in an effort from the NBA to create more parody and not let the big market teams have a disadvantage spending-wise. This was a factor in why the Warriors traded Poole and his four-year, 128 million-dollar contract to the Wizards; to give themselves the flexibility to fill out the rest of their roster for one more run at a championship while Curry is still in his prime.
Another variable is their expiring contracts. Draymond Green has opted out of his player option with the team and becomes a free agent this summer, Donte DiVincenzo also has a player option and is assumed to be too expensive for the Warriors to retain, and Klay Thompson is set to become a free agent next summer. Thompson and Green have been vital to the organization and are a major part of the Warriors Dynasty winning four out of the last eight championships. Are they willing to take less to stay with the Warriors and make another run, or do they take more money from another team?
The last variable is the recent stepping down of longtime General Manager Bob Myers. Myers was the architect of the Warriors Dynasty as he made pivotal moves such as inquiring about Andre Iguodala in 2013, and Kevin Durant in 2016, and doing a sign and trade with Durant and the Brooklyn Nets to acquire D’Angelo Russell who was flipped at the deadline for former top draft pick Andrew Wiggins. Each one of these moves has had a direct impact on the court and without just one of them, the entire dynasty could look different. Myers’ exit leaves the franchise without its prime roster decision-maker as soon as their roster could go into significant flux.
On June 12th, the Warriors introduced Mike Dunleavy Jr. as the new General Manager of the team. During his opening press conference, Dunleavy talked about the financial ramifications of the club, while also adding that re-signing Green is a top priority this off-season. Ironically enough, Dunleavy even stated that he had no intention of trading Poole, who was then traded just a week after to the Washington Wizards for perennial All-Star veteran Point Guard Chris Paul. Dunleavy starts his tenure as General Manager of the club with a splash and seems to be making his first steps in building another championship roster for the Warriors.
It will be exciting to see how the Warriors attack this offseason as they look to prolong the dynasty and be competitive down the stretch of Curry’s career.
