At the All-Star Break, We Look at the State of the Warriors

From the perspective of the Golden State Warriors, this year’s All-Star break was a little bit different.

Every All-Star Weekend since 2013 had featured Warrior players popping up at least a few different times. But for 2020, the only player in Chicago representing the Bay was Eric Paschall, who participated in the Rising Stars Challenge. He showed out, leading Team USA in scoring with 23 points, but it was a far cry from what we’ve previously seen with regards to Golden State’s representation at the midseason festivities.

But the far bigger difference relates to where the team stands right now. Every All-Star Weekend since 2013 had featured the Warriors in position to make the playoffs. This year, that is obviously not the case. The Warriors head into the final stretch of the season at 12-43, comfortably the league’s worst record, and have overhauled their roster to the point that it consists mostly of G Leaguers and fringe NBA players.

This development has been a long time in the making, dating back to the 2018-2019 regular season, when Kevin Durant was already on his way out as the Warriors made their fifth straight NBA Finals run. Then Klay Thompson tore his ACL on a dunk attempt during game six of the Finals. Then Durant led a parade of departures that headlined the Warriors’ wildest offseason in years. With so much turnover, the Warriors had to begin thinking of creative ways to stay relevant in the league.

They did exactly that, turning Durant’s exit into a sign-and-trade for D’Angelo Russell and adding a number of capable, if lesser, role players. Although the roster as assembled was clearly nowhere near the Golden State teams of recent years, there was potential. Russell and Stephen Curry are both highly skilled offensively and could hopefully play together, Draymond Green was healthy and if any coach would get the new players to buy in, it was Steve Kerr. An eighth consecutive playoff appearance didn’t seem far-fetched.

Unfortunately, the Warriors struggled to mesh to open the season, the defense was a sieve and in just the fourth game of the season, Curry suffered a nasty broken hand that required two different surgeries. There would be no opportunity for Curry and Russell to play together for most of the season, no chance for a collection of young guys and role players to learn from a superstar about how to develop into a winning team over the course of the season. In the few seconds it took for Curry to get his hand caught underneath a falling Aron Baynes, the year became entirely about getting experience for young players and gearing up for subsequent seasons.

As the Warriors regularly trotted out undermanned and inexperienced rosters, they put up solid fights night after night that rarely turned into wins. At the same time, the front office kept evaluating and planning. Acknowledging that this season is lost, they dealt six different players, including Russell, to three teams for a total of six draft picks and Andrew Wiggins, who seems to be a far better fit than Russell. They filled out their roster in a way that makes clear their intentions for the rest of the season: play it out, get a high draft pick to go along with all the acquired picks and get ready for the 2020-2021 season.

Exactly how they will get ready remains to be seen. They will have loads of assets and several open roster sports, and they’ve spoken openly about their intentions to spend money. Will they sign some free agents? Make a bunch of trades centered around the picks? Package several picks and a player or two to acquire another superstar to play alongside the hopefully healthy Splash Brothers? All of these are possible outcomes, but it’s unlikely that all of them can happen.

After several years of consistently lucky breaks, the Warriors have spent the last several months shrouded by misfortune. Even with the bad bounces, they have done everything they can to make sure that their current standing is a short-term problem. There is still a long way to go before anything can be definitively proven, but at the moment, the future of the Warriors looks strong.